How We Grew Up
by AngelGirl569
Summary: Their time together is running out. It's Yumi's senior year, and she realizes that her time with Ulrich is running out. Aelita is pursuing a serious music career, and Jeremy has been working on a secret project all summer that might ruin everything. Odd is the glue of their group, but what will happen if he is forced to leave them? An epic Code Lyoko saga spanning a whole year!
1. The Last Reunion

**This story contains plot lines involving sex and drugs, but it will be tasteful. There is nothing inappropriate for teenagers to read, so I am sticking to a rating of T. I'm estimating this story will have thirty chapters at least, but we will see. This first chapter is mainly setting up the story and filling in backstory. Enjoy!**

* * *

It was the first day of school, and Ulrich could not be more on edge. He knew it would be a tough year, since he would be applying to universities next summer, but long rants in the morning about college never helped his mood. But the smile Yumi gave him when she opened the door made his stress melt away.

"Ulrich!" she said with a grin as she threw her arms around him. "I missed you." They shared a quick kiss, mindful of her parents being nearby, then set off for school. She had cut her hair short for the summer, showing off the two new piercings in her ears. Her style hadn't changed much over the years, though she was now confident in showing more skin, wearing black shorts and matching tank top.

"You have no idea how much I missed you," Ulrich said somberly, squeezing her hand. He had grown over the years and was now an inch taller than his girlfriend, an inch he was very smug about. He was lean but toned, today wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

Yumi giggled. "I think I have some idea, considering you texted me every day about how miserable you were." Ulrich had spent the summer taking classes at Ludwig Maximilians University, his father's former university. The program was all boys (a fact Yumi couldn't complain about) who were posh and preppy, golfed on the weekends, and found Ulrich's love of football childish.

Ulrich shrugged. "At least it meant we stayed in touch well." Because none of the guys wanted to spend time with Ulrich (and the feeling was mutual), he spent his free time texting Yumi and his other friends. As the young couple walked onto the campus, Yumi couldn't help but smile. She was the only one of her friends who lived in the area, and seeing the school campus so empty during summer break was always a bit depressing. Now the lawn was scattered with kids playing games, studying, or just relaxing before classes started. Ulrich and Yumi waved to William, who was relaxing in the shade of a tree, his girlfriend Emily leaning back against him while reading a book.

"You have to admit they're cute," Yumi said quietly. Ulrich shrugged with a slight smile, not wanting to let on how adorable he thought the two brunettes were together.

He pulled his girlfriend's hand to direct her down another path. "Come on, Odd and Aelita are in the dining hall."

"What about Jeremy?" Yumi asked, lowering her voice as they entered the cafeteria.

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "Don't ask." After grabbing breakfast, the couple sat down across from Odd and Aelita. Odd was inhaling his breakfast, already on his second serving of croissants and hot chocolate. He had matured over the years while maintaining his trademark humor. His hair was still stuck up with a purple streak, but he had thankfully ditched the purple crop top in favor of more normal skater clothes.

"Hey guys, how was your summer?" Aelita smiled cheerfully, though her eyes were a bit puffy.

Yumi frowned. "It was fine, just hung around the house and worked on college stuff...Aelita, what's wrong?" The pink haired girl blushed and looked down at her untouched breakfast.

"Same old," she said. "I'm just so sick of Jeremy forgetting I exist. I thought we had gotten past the hurdle of becoming a couple last year, but now it's like we're back at square one."

Yumi gave an encouraging smile. "I'm sure it's not that bad..."

"He didn't even notice my hair," Aelita said in a flat tone. Normally the guys would have laughed at her for sounding so superficial and girly, but it was a pretty drastic change for the Einstein of the group to not notice. She had grown her hair out, using extensions to get it to a fuller length, and had light blue streaks put in. Her look had changed to cutoff shorts, high tops, and a low cut tank top. She also wore a multitude of wrist bands.

Ulrich tried to change topics as subtly as he could. "Where are all the wristbands from?"

Aelita glanced down at them with a smile. "I've been saving them from all the events I went to. There are more in my dorm room, but I couldn't fit them all on my wrists without cutting off my circulation."

Odd whistled. "Touring Europe for a summer to DJ clubs and events...our very own superstar, Aelita!" She laughed, shoving Odd in the arm. After a couple years, the group realized they couldn't keep pulling the "Odd's cousin" charade forever, and that Aelita was going to need some real identification after high school ended. Jeremy was able to hack into the computer of their local government office and write Aelita into the system as "Aelita Hopper," an emancipated minor assigned to a fake social worker who Jeremy could imitate on the phone. So far the scam had gone off without a hitch. She had a birth certificate, a driver's license, and even a bank account. They were considering whether she needed insurance, but she said she would worry about it when she got a car.

"These fans," Aelita said with an eye roll. "They're just so obsessive."

"Aelita! Aelita!" Odd cheered. "Dedicate your next song to me!"

Aelita flipped her hair, giving Odd a flirtatious wink. "Anything for the fans." She blew a kiss at him, which he pretended to catch and then swoon.

Ulrich laughed. "You guys are weird." Yumi munched her croissant, observing her friends' antics with a soft smile. It was sad, knowing this was the last first day of school she would enjoy with them. They would have another first day, another year together, while she was off at university somewhere.

"So," Odd said, stealing Ulrich's croissant. "How's our college girl?"

Ulrich scowled, grabbing his croissant back. "She's not in college yet!"

Yumi sighed, rubbing her temples. "I wish I was, just to be done with this application process. Dad wants me to go to school in Japan, and says I have to go somewhere that will lead to success in life. So that means doctor, lawyer, or accountant. I don't really mind those options, I just don't know what I want to do yet, you know?"

Ulrich put a supportive arm around his girlfriend. "Hey, I get it. My dad's insisting I to go to business school and take over the family trade. It's like a pressure cooker at my house."

As Yumi leaned her head on her boyfriend's shoulder, another person joined them at their table. "Hey guys," Sam said, wolfing her breakfast down just as Odd had minutes before. "What's up?"

"Talking about college," Odd said. He and Sam had started dating last year, but none of his friends could get a read on their relationship yet. They didn't go on dates, unless hanging out at the skatepark with friends counted as a date. They didn't hold hands, hug, or refer to each other as boyfriend or girlfriend. Odd said she needed more time to get used to the idea. Sam cracked up at the notion of a relationship.

Sam stuck her tongue out in disgust, putting the crumbs there on display. "Don't remind me," she said. Aelita and Yumi rolled their eyes at Sam's behavior. Odd had gotten her to open up to the group more over the years, but she was more of an Odd 2.0 at this point. All the eating and joking, but without his growth in maturity. She was a curvy girl, but wore loose pants and T-shirts all the time so not much was visible.

"Where's the Einstein anyway?" Odd asked.

Aelita's mood soured. "Homework, probably."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "We haven't even had classes yet."

Aelita threw her hands in the air, moving to leave. "I know! He was doing summer classes, and now he's got this special project going on he won't talk about. I can't keep up." She slung her bag over her shoulder and stalked out of the lunchroom, leaving the group to look after her with concern.

"How long has she been like this?" Yumi asked quietly.

Odd groaned. "All summer. Since Jeremy was taking summer classes, she stayed with me whenever she wasn't on tour. My parents and I developed a system where if you brought up Jeremy, you had to put five bucks in the Jeremy Jar, because every time she would go on a rant, or get moody, or cry. It's understandable, considering the guy hasn't given her the time of day in months. She would text him on Sunday and he'd respond with one word on Thursday, that sort of thing."

Yumi shook her head in disgust. "That's horrible! I wouldn't put up with that."

Odd nodded. "On the bright side though, my parents and I made a real push in saving for university."

The couples parted ways. Yumi walked Ulrich to his first class because surprisingly, his schedule was more loaded than hers. Yumi stuck to the basics this year so she would have enough time to focus on university applications, while Ulrich's schedule was stuffed with all the advanced courses he could fit. She knew it would be a stressful time for him, she just hoped he would still have time for the occasional date. It was their last year going to school together, and Yumi knew she had to make it count.

Odd seemed to have the same idea as he rushed to catch Sam before she could get on the bus to go home that afternoon. "Sam, wait up!" He called, pushing his jog to a sprint.

She paused, signaling the driver that she needed a moment. "What is it? I gotta go."

"Let's hang out today!" Odd said, enthusiastic despite his fatigue from sprinting across campus to catch her.

Sam shrugged. "Sure. My dad won't be home till tonight, we can chill there." The duo hopped on the bus. Unfortunately, Sam lived further from school than Yumi did and had to take the bus every day. Odd couldn't complain though, because having a house all to themselves could be very nice. Their relationship was pretty physical, a fact he had been surprisingly shy about telling his friends.

Once they got to her house, they headed straight to Sam's room. She had a room set up in the basement, with a TV and a small private bathroom. Her dad wasn't home much, so Odd could guess why Sam was so self sufficient. She grabbed snacks for them and they settled on her bed to watch a movie. It didn't take long for Odd to lose interest in the movie, becoming interested instead in Sam and the way her shirt had raised to expose some of her stomach. He kissed her neck, and she grinned, knowing what he wanted. They rolled over to have a proper kiss, the blankets beginning to tangle underneath them. Within minutes they had stripped down to their underwear.

Sam had been very clear from the beginning - no sex. Though, they could do other things. Other things, which Odd enjoyed immensely. When they lay together at the end, he would lean over and put his arms around her, but she would squirm away and mutter something about it being too hot for that sort of thing. It was depressing, but all Odd could do was hope that she just needed time. Was he curious about sex? Yes. But at this point he was more curious about what a romantic relationship would feel like. This thing with Sam was great, but something always felt a little off.

"Hey Sam," he said, breaking the silence. "Can I make a movie about you?"

She propped herself up on her elbows to stare at him. "You mean like a porno?"

He shook his head furiously. "No, like a movie! A documentary, about you and your life!"

She laughed, reaching to put her clothes back on. "Really now? And what would you be documenting exactly?"

Odd sat up to gesture wildly with his hands, getting excited at this sudden rush of ideas. "Your skating, your cooking, your homework, your ability to eat a bag of chips in two minutes, whatever! You're a person who more than deserves the focus of my camera, Sam." He paused, hoping she would understand the implications of that statement, but it seemed to go over her head.

"Sure," She shrugged. "What could it hurt?"

* * *

 **Short chapter, I know. Leave me reviews!**


	2. Food for Thought

**Chapter Two, here we go. We'll start getting into the drama now, I promise. Enjoy!**

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Ulrich was the first to witness the return of Odd the Filmmaker. He woke to see Odd putting a new lens on the camera and looking into the viewfinder, the camera focused on Ulrich.

"Odd," Ulrich growled. "What have I told you about filming me while I sleep?"

Odd rolled his eyes with a grin. "Don't worry, I'm not even filming, just testing the lens focus." Ulrich sat up to rub his eyes, squinting at the morning sunlight streaming through the window. He washed up in their shared bathroom, then walked back in only to jump at the sight of Odd's camera focusing on him.

"Odd!" He yelled, almost dropping the towel around his waist. "What the Hell?"

Odd smirked and laughed. "The lens cap is on...I couldn't resist seeing if you would notice."

Ulrich gave his roommate a glare before turning away to change his clothes. Only the second day of school and Odd was already driving him crazy. The video camera made another appearance at lunch, as Odd filmed Sam eating. She seemed to enjoy chewing obscenely for the camera as if to mock Odd's focus on her. But Odd was patient, and only smiled at his subject. She received a call from her dad, glanced at the name, and swiftly pressed a button to end the call, scowling at her food briefly before continuing to eat. Aelita was also scowling at her phone, but for a different reason.

Yumi nudged her friend. "What did the phone do to you?"

Aelita sighed with a weary smile. "It's like I have two boyfriends. The one I want, Jeremy, who won't give me the time of the day, and my manager, Adam, who's been texting me nonstop about arranging a gig this weekend."

Ulrich frowned. "During the school year?"

Aelita nodded. "I know it's a lot, but I'm making good money and some music producers have been starting to notice me."

"That's great!" Odd said. "Pretty soon you'll be the toast of Paris, and we'll all get to casually brag to everyone we meet about how we know Europe's hottest artist personally."

The tension eased from Aelita's face as she laughed. "I'll be sure to reserve backstage passes for all of you." The group nodded as though a decision had been made, though they all knew that it would be a while before Aelita rose to that level. After that concert with the Subsonics a few years ago, she had started meeting with a manager who arranged training with people he knew in the industry. He had taken her on a summer tour of clubs and festivals, and she was starting to make a name for herself. Already multiple kids at school had come up to tell her about having seen her website, or heard her songs online. Even Sissi was impressed by her, though in public she scoffed about the nerd girl playing with computers more.

Odd finally shut off his video camera to head to class, squeezing Sam's shoulder affectionately on his way out. So far he thought the documentary was going well. It would take time to get her to relax in front of the camera, but after just a day she was getting better at ignoring it. Sam had experienced a fascinating life, but was so private about it that no one but him even knew that her parents were divorced. She played it cool, but he had a feeling there was a great film waiting to be made. Across the lawn, a mop of blond hair caught his eye.

"Jeremy!" Odd called, racing across the lawn. He waved his hand like a maniac, drawing the attention of many students.

Jeremy sighed in exasperation at his friend's antics but still smiled. "Hey Odd. Have a good summer?"

"Well no, not really," Odd said, placing his hands on his hips. "Because most of it was spent hearing Aelita complain about you! I'll have you know, my family is almost done saving for university because of your bad relationship skills!"

Jeremy blinked. "How are those two things related? And hey, I'm not that bad," he said defensively, then paused. "Am I?"

"Well duh," Odd said. "You barely talked to Aelita all summer, and you haven't seen her since school started. What's she supposed to think? She can't decide if she's more worried about you cheating on her or not loving her anymore."

Jeremy rubbed his temples. "Look, I'm just really busy. I'm already late for a meeting with the head of the science department, can this wait?"

Odd crossed his arms defiantly. "I can, Aelita can't. Make a move Jeremy, or you're right back where you were when we were twelve."

Jeremy nodded and walked away, head full of thoughts. His projects were important to him, but so was Aelita. Having the opportunity to do this research, and to be respected for it, was a dream come true. He should be sharing this dream with Aelita, but what if she reacted badly? He sighed and turned the handle of the office door.

"Good morning, professor," he said with a polite nod. Sitting down in his usual chair by the desk, he noticed the stranger for the first time. He had been working with Ms. Gutierrez, the head of the science department, all summer, so her presence was familiar. She often brought him homemade Spanish meals when she knew he would be working late, keeping him well fed during the months away from home. She was brilliant, and open to his ideas, which he appreciated after receiving negative backlash from every other teacher he had approached. The stranger, a tall man in his fifties with tanned skin and a stocky build, smiled and reached for a handshake.

"Jeremy," Ms. Gutierrez said patiently, seeing his confusion. "This is Professor Aldridge from the University of Oxford. He heard that we had a student doing advanced research in digitally designed realities and wanted to meet to discuss your work."

Jeremy blushed, shaking the man's hand as confidently as he could. "Thank you, sir. I wasn't aware that I was attracting attention."

Professor Aldridge smiled and put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "Jeremy, all the schools have been hearing about you for years. Perfect test scores, out of the box ideas, occasionally a bit of a troublemaker...you're a unique young man. And don't worry, England isn't as stuffy as you might think. We enjoy a bit of trouble ourselves." He winked, and Jeremy smiled, becoming a bit more at ease with the man.

He opened his laptop, keeping it turned away from the professors as he entered his passwords. Life with XANA had left him wary of hackers, so he kept complex firewalls and passwords in place for every single aspect of his computer. Passwords were needed to enter his desktop, to access his files, and his labels were marked with numbers, nothing else. He selected file twenty seven, entered the special security codes, then pulled up the file of Project X. Some may have said it was a cliché title, but those who knew the basis of his work would understand. His mind flashed back to his conversation with Odd. Aelita would appreciate this project, surely. He would show it to her the next chance he got.

"Project X, huh?" Professor Aldridge said with raised eyebrows. "Well, scientists are rarely creative."

Ms. Gutierrez shook her head with a smile. "Don't bother asking, Professor. The name has an origin, but Jeremy refuses to share the story with me."

Jeremy felt heat rise to his cheeks. From day one he had been questioned about the basis for his research was coming from, and no one could know the truth - at least, not yet. He needed more solid proof, and he would never reveal anything before consulting the group.

"My project is a study on digital worlds," he began. "I don't mean video games. I mean worlds that live without management, worlds with unexplored layers that bring the Internet to life."

Professor Aldridge leaned forward in his chair, his brow already furrowed in confusion. Jeremy recognized the look. The professor was trying to decide if Jeremy was a lunatic or a genius.

"When a video game is designed, every creature inside that artificial world is programmed by the creator, their every action controlled. My research proves that it is possible for life, true independent life, to exist within a computer. There is even an extent to these expanding digital worlds that make it possible for a person to travel into the computer, then safely be transported out." As he spoke, Jeremy clicked through a slideshow of diagrams, charts, and coding.

Attempting to be subtle, Professor Aldridge looked at Ms. Gutierrez with concern and bewilderment on his face. He turned back to Jeremy, struggling to find his words. "What exactly is the basis of all this work?"

Jeremy paused. He had never gone this far into explanation, not even with Ms. Gutierrez, whom he had simply asked to trust him. "It's a bit complicated," he said. "My research is based off of the work of...a late scientist."

"Who?" Aldridge asked. "Is he a university professor? Or does he work for a technology company?"

Jeremy began to panic. "It's complicated," he said again. "Just please, trust me. If you'll look at these formulas, you'll see how digital coding is embedded in our DNA, and how that can easily translate for virtualization. The materialization process requires a more complex program, relying heavily on that DNA coding along with more biology than computer science. Without a DNA sequence, it is difficult but still possible to materialize a person."

Aldridge paused. "Ok, let's assume this is all possible. Are you saying you could materialize something like a 3D avatar as a real person? Like a 3D printer with plastic?"

"Well, sort of," Jeremy said. "It's impossible to program a true human personality, as humans have a capacity to learn, and computer programs don't. The ones that do are dangerous, as they learn to beat the parameters set for them. But a digitally programmed creature could be materialized, yes."

Ms. Gutierrez, hearing this aspect of the project for the first time, popped in with a question. "Could the lands of a virtual world have artificial intelligence?"

Jeremy nodded. "Yes, but mostly just to respond to the commands of others. Having the dirt under your feet suddenly decide to carry you to the edge of a cliff could be dangerous, you know?" He let out a laugh that faded as soon as he saw the faces of the two professors.

Aldridge stood. "Look Jeremy, you seem like a good kid. And if you ever manage to make this stuff happen, give me a call. You obviously seem like you know your stuff, and I'll be putting in a good word for you to the university, but this project you're working on...it's the stuff of dreams."

Jeremy shook his head frantically. "Sir, I promise you, this is real!"

Once again, Professor Aldridge put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder, but his expression was one of pity. "You keep telling yourself that, kid." He picked up his bag and left, quickly shaking Ms. Gutierrez's hand on his way out.

Jeremy turned to his teacher with desperation after the man left. "You believe me, don't you?"

She nodded. "Jeremy, I have supported you from day one. If you think you can make it happen, then I'm here for you."

Jeremy grumbled and sat down to begin typing frantically on his laptop. He had known from the start that this project would be difficult for people to comprehend, but he had thought that surely a university professor from Oxford would have heard of something like this before. He knew his ideas seemed crazy, people had called Franz Hopper crazy too. But he didn't want to end up a hermit spending his life hiding from the government, he wanted to share this work with the world! He just had to find a way to prove it.

He groaned and shut his laptop with a sigh. "Mind if I take a break?" he asked Ms. Gutierrez, who was working on papers at her desk.

She smiled at him. "Jeremy, you've been working nonstop for months. You've earned a break. Take the rest of the day off, ok? I know you cleared Wednesdays for this project, but I think you can afford to take one Wednesday as a mental health day."

He nodded and left the room, deep in thought. He knew he would need to tell Aelita about this project eventually, since really he needed her consent to go any further. Heading over to the dorm, he tried to think of what to do to make all this distance up to her. Maybe a nice date of some sort. Pausing outside her room, Jeremy heard Aelita's voice from inside.

"Okay Adam," She said with a laugh. "I'll see you next Saturday. Club Petit? Sounds great." Jeremy knocked on the door softly, gulping nervously. Who was Adam? Some other guy? He was taking her to a club...Jeremy hated clubs. Aelita called, "Come in!" To the person at the door, and Jeremy peered around the crack. Immediately her expression cooled.

"Can I come in?" He asked nervously. Aelita nodded curtly, putting her cell phone down next to her bed. Jeremy stood in the doorway, scratching his head awkwardly. "So...how was your summer?"

Aelita shot him a glare. "You would know if you had bothered to talk to me. Honestly Jeremy, how hard is it to pick up a phone?"

His cheeks burned in embarrassment. She was right to be mad, there were few excuses that would appease her. "I was really busy," he mumbled.

Aelita rolled her eyes. "Yes, so I keep hearing."

"Do you want to go out?" Jeremy asked, tripping over his words. "Like a date?"

She blinked. "A date?" A small smile went to her face. "That would be good...a lot went on over the tour, there's a lot to tell you. I'm busy Saturday, but how about Friday?"

Jeremy nodded. "I will pick you up at six." He turned on his heel and left. As soon as the door closed, he started breathing again. Aelita had every right to be upset. He had to make this date a good one.

* * *

Across campus, another phone call was going on. Ulrich leaned against a tree, his head bowed as he held a phone to his ear. "I understand," he said, pulling his fingers through his hair. "It's just one quiz...it's a hard class, ok?" A long pause. He looked up to see Yumi approaching. He shot her a weak smile. "I have to go, Dad. Yes. Okay. Goodbye." Yumi gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before looking at him with concern.

"Who was on the phone?" She asked.

Ulrich sighed. "My dad. He wants me to go to Ludwig Maximiliens University in Berlin like he did but my grades just aren't high enough. The summer courses there will probably help, plus my dad's influence there, but it still looks doubtful."

"Geez," Yumi said. "I'm trying to figure out what schools to apply to, and you've already got a favorite school picked out."

"Well, it's not that I want to go there," Ulrich said. "My dad wants me to go there. That phone call was about my calculus quiz - the teacher had us take a preliminary quiz yesterday just so she could figure out where our math skills are, and I did...badly. Apparently she got word to my dad, who is now pissed. The quiz didn't even count for a grade, she was just wondering if I was ready for the course."

Yumi raised her eyebrows. "That's even messier than how it is with my parents. They've been pretty clear - find a school in France that we can afford, and study hard to become a doctor, lawyer, or something on that level."

"That's still more options than I have!" Ulrich said. At this point it seemed they were just comparing to see who had it worse. "I'm going to go to LMU, major in business, possibly go to grad school, and take over my dad's company. That's the plan that's been set out for me all my life."

Yumi was silent, simply reaching over to squeeze Ulrich's hand. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

He nodded with a sad smile. "It is what it is. Want to get lunch?" The couple walked hand in hand to the cafeteria, greeting students they knew along the way. After closing down Lyoko, the group had discovered they had a lot more free time now, which led to making a lot of new friends. Before, the group had stuck together to discuss the secrets of Lyoko in private, but with all that out of the way they were able to expand their social horizons. Ulrich had met a number of kids through sports teams, while Yumi branched out within her grade to make more friends her own age. The main group had always been closest though. You couldn't leave the people you'd been through an unforgettable experience with.

In the cafeteria, Ulrich and Yumi received trays of meatloaf, salad, and orzo with brownies for dessert. Not seeing Odd or Aelita around, they sat by William and Emily. The young couple had gotten together a year ago and seemed to get along well, often seen holding hands under the table during class.

"Emily, you know Ulrich and Yumi, right?" He said to his girlfriend. She smiled and greeted the pair before leaving to work on a paper for her literature class. William gave her a kiss goodbye before turning back to his friends. Lyoko had been tough on their friendship, but in time the group had learned to trust him again. Aelita was still a bit uneasy around him due to bad memories of his possessed body attacking her, but she was still nice to him. Ulrich and Yumi, surprisingly, had stayed closest with William.

"How was your summer?" Yumi asked politely.

William grinned. "It was great! I helped my uncle at his woodworking shop in the Alps, and Emily visited me for two weeks. I think you can guess what my favorite part of those two weeks was." William winked slyly at his friends, who blinked at him in confusion.

"I visited relatives in Japan," Yumi said dully.

"I was stuck at a preppy boarding school program at a university in Berlin," Ulrich added. He looked down at his phone, seeing an incoming call from his father. "Oh look, here's Berlin now," he commented, pulling out his phone and walking out of the crowded lunchroom to talk, leaving William and Yumi alone.

William leaned forward in his chair. "You're kidding me," he said. "You two? Still?"

Yumi furrowed her brow, pausing in her lunch. "Still what?" she asked.

He rolled his eyes, lowering his voice. "Sorry, I'm just a little surprised that you two haven't had sex yet."

Yumi sat up straight, her face immediately turning red. "Who said we hadn't - I mean, what business of yours is it what Ulrich and I do or don't do?"

William grinned devilishly. "It's painfully obvious, Yumi."

She glared at him. "It's none of your business, William. Imagine if I started probing into your relationship! You wouldn't like that, would you?"

"I wouldn't care," William said, leaning back in his chair. "Ask whatever you want, I'm an open book."

Yumi paused. "Have you and Emily had sex?" she asked quietly.

William nodded with a cocky smile. "Many times, in fact. Now, answer my question. Why haven't you and Ulrich had sex?"

"I don't know!" she cried out, not realizing how loud she was. He motioned for her to hush, and she dropped to a whisper. "We're just not ready," she muttered. "And don't say that's lame."

He shrugged. "It's just lame for you guys. Sex is great, and if you're careful there's nothing to worry about. Besides, you're going off to college at the end of the year - what then? Might want to get it over with before you have to be madly coordinating your schedules for any time together."

Yumi laughed. "We're already going to have to do that! Ulrich's taking a bunch of classes, and I'm going to be busy with university applications."

"I hear that," William said, standing to go. "I'll see you later Yumi." He passed Ulrich on his way out, giving him a friendly wave.

Ulrich sat down with Yumi. "What were you guys talking about? Your face was hilarious the whole time."

"Oh, you saw that?" Yumi said, feeling her cheeks blush. "It was nothing." She paused. "You know, I'll tell you later."

"Everything okay?" Ulrich asked, reaching for her hand.

Yumi nodded, squeezing his hand. "Trust me, everything is fine. I'll see you at the end of the day, yeah?"

Ulrich nodded and stood to go. "I have class, I'll see you later." They kissed goodbye and parted ways, Ulrich's mood tinged with concern, Yumi's mind a blur. How "painfully obvious" was it to everyone else that she and Ulrich hadn't had sex? They had just started dating two years ago, it was still very early in the relationship. Okay, not really. But still, it's not like he pushed her. They kissed, they cuddled, they had made out a couple times...it was really just a matter of time and privacy. They spent their vacations apart, and it was impossible to get alone time in his dorm room with Odd there. And her house was a war zone for Ulrich; her dad would never let them go anywhere except the living room and kitchen. Just going to the bathroom during a date meant her dad knocking on the door to check that they weren't both in there.

Yumi smiled to herself at some painfully awkward memories. She had a free period now, and went to the library. She had been avoiding the college issue all summer, not knowing where her life was headed. Her parents insisted she stay in France, which wasn't a problem, but did limit her options. Yumi had spoken with a college counselor who had provided a list of possible schools, but she had yet to look them up.

Sitting at a computer, Yumi began typing in the names of schools, groaning inwardly at the long lists of possible majors.

"How am I supposed to decide something this big when I can't even make a decision about Ulrich?" She muttered to herself. Unbeknownst to her, Odd was currently struggling with an even more complicated relationship. He had Sam pressed up against the gardener's tool shed in the woods, his hand down her pants and his lips on her neck. Sam sighed, a sigh that turned into a deep groan.

"You can stop," she said. Odd pulled away and she winked at him. "That was good. You're getting better at that."

Odd bowed with a silly flourish of his hands. "Why thank you milady, I live to serve!"

She laughed. "Come on, we have class soon." Odd nodded, suppressing a complaint about her not reciprocating, then fished his camera out of his bag. Turning the lens onto her, Sam groaned. "Again?"

Odd nodded. "Now, I'm gonna ask questions, and you respond."

"Fine," Sam said with an eye roll. "But don't expect to hear anything interesting."

"When did you start skating?" Odd asked patiently.

"When I was five," Sam said. "My dad took me to skate parks while mom was away on business, and eventually I started going on my own."

"What do you like about skating?"

Sam pursed her lips thoughtfully. "The adrenaline rush, obviously. And it's rewarding when you work hard to learn a new trick and then nail it."

"What was your first competition?" Odd asked with a smile, knowing the answer to the question.

She laughed. "Don't make me say it!" Odd raised his eyebrows at her. "Fine," she said. "It was the Skater Sweeties Skating Competition, when I was seven. It was all girls, and none of us looked very sweet. I got first place, which rocked because it was a competition for ages six through twelve, and I beat a bunch of older girls. The looks on their faces were priceless, they were so pissed."

Odd smiled. "What other competitions have you done?" This routine continued all the way back to the campus, where Odd had to shut the camera off, not wanting to get too many shots of the school in his video. The sight of a video camera immediately attracted a pesky nuisance - Sissi.

"Is that a video camera?" Sissi squawked. "Are you making another movie, Odd?"

He sighed. "Yes, and you're not going to be in it so don't even ask."

She scoffed. "And who is, your frumpy little skater girlfriend?"

Sam pushed her face too close to Sissi's for comfort. "Frumpy? Last I checked, your little girl bee stings were looking pretty frumpy compared to mine." Sam smiled, pushing her chest up for emphasis, and Sissi turned red.

"Whatever!" she said with a blush, turning quickly to leave. Sam smiled, and Odd grinned as well. Sissi was always hungry for the spotlight, and Odd's video camera attracted her like a moth to a flame. Either way she always got burned.

"Sam," Odd said, packing his camera away. "You want to hang out later this week?"

She shrugged. "Sure. My house like usual?"

Odd paused. "Well, no. I was thinking we could go out somewhere."

Sam looked wary. "Not like a date, right? I don't go for that mushy stuff."

He grinned. "Nah. I have a gift card for McDonald's, and it won't last forever."

"I'm game," Sam said. "I've got stuff to do this week but we can go out Friday."

"Friday it is," Odd said. "I'll pick you up at six."

He walked away from the exchange feeling victorious, though with a tinge of regret. It should be a date. But Sam just wasn't there yet. Hopefully this would make her relax more about going out together. After school, Ulrich and Yumi met by the gate. He looked nervous, and so did she.

"So..." Ulrich drawled. "Am I walking you home or no?"

Yumi paused. "Uh, no. Aelita is coming over." It wasn't a lie, though she had texted Aelita barely an hour ago to to arrange the get-together.

"Oh." Ulrich was silent for a moment. "So, what were you and William talking about?"

"Nothing!" Yumi said quickly. "I'll tell you later. Look, there's Aelita!" Aelita was walking towards the couple, her bag slung over one shoulder.

"What's up?" Aelita asked, looking between the two. "I'm not interrupting something, am I?"

Yumi shook her head, and Ulrich shoved his hands into his pockets. "I better go," Ulrich said.

"I'll text you later," Yumi reassured. As she walked home, Aelita continued to look at her friend with concern.

"Everything okay?" Aelita asked.

Yumi nodded. "I'll tell you when we get to my house." Upon entering the Ishiyama household, Yumi was met with Hiroki and Johnny playing loudly in the living room. "Perfect," she muttered to herself with a smile. She popped her head into her dad's office to ask sweetly, "Dad? Hiroki and Johnny are playing in the living room, can Aelita and I go up to my room?"

Her father nodded, obviously distracted by work. "Don't play your music too loud," he muttered. Yumi grinned and gestured for Aelita to follow her, grabbing soft drinks from the refrigerator. Once up in Yumi's room, Aelita sat on the bed cross-legged.

"Seriously," Aelita said, taking a quick sip of her drink. "What is up with you and Ulrich? You guys were acting like someone died."

Yumi groaned and flopped back onto her bed. "I don't think anyone died...just my self esteem." She propped up on her elbows to look at her friend. "Is it obvious that Ulrich and I haven't had sex?"

Aelita shrugged, an awkward expression on her face. "A bit? I mean, I like to think you would tell me if that happened."

"Well of course I would," Yumi rolled her eyes. "But what makes it so obvious?"

Aelita stared at the bedspread thoughtfully. "I think it's how uncomfortable you guys are with touching," she said finally. "You hold hands, sometimes you hug, but it's not like with other couples. You know how William and Emily just naturally fall together? How they tickle each other without being awkward? It's that kind of comfort that says a couple has had sex, when the boundaries around their bodies drop."

"Ulrich and I are comfortable," Yumi said defensively. True, they didn't cuddle in public. And yes, they usually just sat next to each other on a couch instead of her draping her legs over his like some couples did. They had always blamed their awkwardness on not liking public displays of affection, but it happened in private too.

"It's like you're nervous about crossing some sort of unspoken boundary," Aelita said, thinking more to herself than to Yumi.

"You talk like you've done this before," Yumi said.

Aelita laughed. "I spent the summer traveling to clubs and festivals around Europe. I spent most of time with people in their twenties and thirties, most of whom had had sex. Let's just say I picked up some ideas. But I haven't done anything, Jeremy and I have barely kissed, you know that."

Yumi nodded. "Ulrich and I kiss a lot...it's just that we're rarely alone."

"Well, there's no rush," Aelita said firmly. "It's not like there's a set date or age that you have to have sex by."

"There kind of is," Yumi said. "This is my last year, remember? I don't want to spend it tiptoeing around the subject until he finds a girl more straightforward and willing."

Aelita punched her friend in the arm. "Ulrich is the least likely guy to cheat, stop worrying about that. If you think you're ready though, go for it. You and Ulrich have talked about sex, right?"

Yumi looked at the floor. "Um..."

"Yumi!" Aelita cried. "You've been dating for two years, and the topic of sex has never come up?"

"Keep your voice down!" Yumi hissed. "My dad is downstairs and you know how strict he is. Ulrich has never been allowed to see the upstairs of my house, remember?"

Aelita nodded. "I guess I'm lucky to have so much independence," she said. "But really, you should talk to him about these things."

"Maybe I can start advancing things a little," Yumi said. "It's just that Odd is always walking in on us when we're in Ulrich's room."

"Odd is going out with Sam Friday night," Aelita said. "He mentioned it to me in our Danish language class, he should be out until the school curfew at ten."

Yumi's eyes lit up. "Oh my god this is perfect!" she said. "If Odd is going out..."

"Then you and Ulrich can stay in," Aelita said with a giggle. "I'll be out too on Friday night, so we'll have to catch up the next day. Jeremy finally got the brains to ask me out somewhere."

Yumi nodded. "He should! Where are you going?"

"No idea," Aelita admitted. "He just said he would pick me up at six."

"Then I will stop by your room at 5:30," Yumi decided. "That way we can check outfits."

Aelita laughed. "Okay sure, miss girly girl." Yumi threw a pillow at Aelita. She now had a plan for Friday. She just hoped Ulrich was ready for what she had in mind.

* * *

 **Yes, of course Jeremy's project involves Xana. Don't act so surprised. Hope you liked the chapter, leave me reviews!**


	3. Falling in Love Again

**Get ready for cute stuff. This is a pretty romantic chapter, so hopefully romance fans enjoy it. Enjoy!**

* * *

True to her word, Yumi stopped by Aelita's room at 5:30 on the dot. She had made arrangements with Ulrich earlier that day. After she suggested they spend the evening in his room, he had simply smiled, said he would get some takeout for them to eat, and asked what movies she wanted him to get. Yumi had tried to be seductive by telling him to surprise her, but she was pretty sure the mystique was lost on him. Now she stood at Aelita's door wearing something she regretted wearing, full of nerves and breath mints. Aelita opened the door, and raised her eyebrows.

"Wow," was all she could say. "I'm sorry, have we met?" Yumi rolled her eyes and walked into Aelita's room. Since Aelita suffered from nightmares, the gang had pushed for her to always be given a single room, citing an anxiety disorder. Jeremy had forged some very professional papers for her in which a therapist of Jeremy's creation confirmed that Aelita had an anxiety disorder that wasn't bad enough to need medication, but that often caused night terrors that resulted in panic. The school bought it quickly, since no one wanted to room with the screaming nightmare girl anyway.

Yumi took a breath, staring into Aelita's mirror. "It's not that bad, is it?" She wore a flouncy black mini skirt edged in lace, high heels, and a glittery strapless top. Her face was adorned with dark eye makeup and red lipstick, but Aelita saw none of it. Yumi glanced over to see Aelita staring openly at her chest.

"When did you grow a D cup?" Aelita asked dumbly.

Yumi blushed. "Okay, so I grabbed a push-up bra. It's not a big deal."

Aelita shook her head. "Yumi, you look great, really, but it's kinda weird. I've never seen you wear heels, let alone glitter. Here," she turned back to her closet, and fished out a white sweater. "Wear this, it's a little more casual. If you show up wearing that Ulrich might wonder if he should have broken out the tux."

Yumi nodded and pulled the sweater on, tossing the glittery top onto Aelita's bed. The sweater hung off the edges of her shoulders flirtatiously, with the neck going no lower than her collarbones. It made the outfit much more casual, but still nice. Yumi nodded. "Okay, you were right. You look nice too, by the way."

Aelita smiled. "This old thing?" she joked. She had put on a sundress and a light jacket, leaving the wristbands on her dresser for the night in favor of some jewelry. "I have no idea where we're going, but unless Jeremy decided to have us hike a mountain in the dark I should be okay." A knock on the door announced Jeremy's arrival. He was early, but after all the late texts Aelita didn't mind.

"Hi," he said as Aelita opened the door. Catching sight of Yumi all dressed up, his brow furrowed. "Uh, hey Yumi, what's going on?"

"Don't worry about it," Aelita said. "Look, I'll be one second, just gotta find my phone." She closed the door and turned back to Yumi, who looked like a deer in headlights. "Okay first, stop freaking out. Jeremy's not going to go telling the whole school you wore a skirt. Second, what exactly are you planning to do with Ulrich tonight?"

Yumi took a breath, smoothing her skirt down. "I'm not sure," she said. "But there are condoms in my purse."

Aelita rose her eyebrows. "Oh," she said. "Well, good luck to you. Text me if anything goes wrong - or right."

"I will," Yumi said with a smile. She gave her friend a quick hug before leaving, shooting Jeremy a glare of warning that he seemed to understand. Aelita stepped out soon after, a purse slung over her shoulder.

"So," Aelita asked sweetly. "What are we doing tonight?"

* * *

"Seriously, what are we doing?" Sam asked. Odd had been stubbornly carrying their McDonald's order for twenty minutes now, refusing to even give her a French fry until they got to his destination.

"We're going somewhere," Odd said. "It'll be cool!"

Sam rolled her eyes. "If you say so." They were in the park now, walking by the river. Odd stayed ahead of her by a few paces, walking quickly. He kept glancing up at the sky, then quickening his pace. Sam jogged to catch up. "Can I get a hint as to where we're going?"

"Nope," Odd said. After a few minutes, he stopped. "We're here." Sam looked to see they had arrived at a bench. There was nothing special about it, though it did have a nice view of the river.

"Cool," she said. "So can we eat now?"

Odd stared at her. "Don't you remember?"

She shrugged, her confusion reaching frustration. "No? Is there something to remember?"

Odd put the bag of food down on the bench. "It's nothing," he said quietly.

Sam began to get worried. "Odd, what is it?"

He sighed, looking at the river. "This is where we first kissed, when we first went on a proper date."

"Well, it wasn't really a date," Sam said. "We just watched a movie at my house, got burgers, and walked over here to skip rocks." She paused. "Wait...that does sound like a date."

Odd nodded, eyes wide. "Sam, it's like I've been saying. We are dating! We go out to places and events together, we kiss and mess around...at this point we've basically done everything but..."

"But have sex, right?" Sam snapped.

"No," Odd said slowly. "Said 'I love you.' We've done everything but that."

Sam looked down. "Oh. Well, yeah. There's that."

"So how about it?" Odd asked, trying to push humor in. "We've got a sunset, burgers, a river, what else do you need for romance?"

Sam scratched her head, shuffling her feet. "I don't really get this whole love thing, Odd. I mean, look at my parents. They loved each other, but that didn't matter much when they were cheating on one another."

"Sam, I'm not asking you to marry me," Odd said. "Just be my girlfriend."

"Look, I'm just not sure if I can do that," she said, obviously flustered.

Odd stood. "Sam, I have fun with you. I like hanging out with you, and I think we would be good together. We already are good together, you just keep refusing to let us be more than this weird quasi-relationship. We're more than friends with benefits at this point and you know it. Now - are you my girlfriend, or my friend? Because I can't live with this inbetween anymore."

Sam was quiet. Odd stared at her, waiting for a response. Sure, he'd be crushed if she just wanted to be friends, but at least it would mean closure. She stood, and wrapped her arms around him, holding him close to her.

"You are my friend," she said quietly, staring at the ground. "But I want you to be my boyfriend. And I want to be your girlfriend. But I don't want to be part of a forced unit, or have to change who I am to fit any expectations." She looked up at him with vulnerable brown eyes. "Is that okay?"

Odd smiled. "Sam, I would never ask you to change. You're amazing just how you are." She blushed, and he pulled her into a hug. He thought about what he had said was true, they hadn't said they loved each other. And maybe they never would. But for now, just hugging his girlfriend made him the happiest he'd been in months.

* * *

Across town, Aelita and Jeremy sat in silence. They were riding in a taxi towards the downtown area, and he had yet to reveal where they were going. She wasn't sure what to talk about, not knowing what he had been doing the last few months, and he was scared of making her mad. He had dressed up a bit, wearing a nice button-up shirt tucked into his dress pants. He had debated for an hour about whether or not to wear a tie, ultimately deciding that it would be too fancy. Finally, they pulled up in front of a diner.

"A diner!" Aelita was already excited. Jeremy smiled, happy that she still liked these places. She had fallen in love with diners after being materialized, excited by the overstuffed burgers and the dozens of milkshake choices. After paying the taxi driver, Jeremy followed Aelita into the restaurant, jogging up to open the door for her.

As they sipped sodas and waited for their food to arrive, Jeremy gathered his courage. "How was the tour?" he asked.

Aelita grinned. "It was great! Twelve countries, fifty two events, one tour bus. Everyone was really nice too, and I was able to meet a lot of producers and industry professionals along the way."

Jeremy nodded. "How was staying with Odd?"

She paused. "It was okay. Nothing special." Their food arrived, and they settled into silence as they munched. "How was class?"

"I actually need to talk to you about that," Jeremy said, putting his food down. "You know the big project I'm working on?"

She nodded. "Yeah, the big secret that no one can know about?"

"Well, it won't be a secret after I tell you," he reasoned with a smile. "It's called Project X. Guess why."

Aelita paused, thinking. She stared at him. "Xana?" He nodded. "Jeremy, please tell me you're not trying to bring Xana back."

He smiled wryly. "I'm not trying to bring Xana back. My project is on artificial intelligence independent of computer programming, with a side focus on the physics of technology and the virtualization and materialization of humans."

She blinked. "So basically, you're finding a way to make your study of my father's work official."

He nodded. "Yes. I'm not plagiarizing his work though. When I can fully explain the mechanics of my plans without needing to base it off his work, then I will bring his name into the mix. But right now, it would take a very long time to explain Franz Hopper."

Aelita smiled, but her eyes remained sad. "Yeah."

Jeremy paused. "Are you okay with this? I'm not plagiarizing his work, I promise. My research is to explain and expand on Franz Hopper's research, perhaps culminating in a creation of my own digital world and scanners. But no evil virus this time."

"That would be good," Aelita said. "I'm sorry for being quiet, but this stuff always just gives me flashbacks, you know?"

Jeremy nodded in understanding. "Would you like a milkshake?"

Aelita smiled. "Let's get them to go."

Milkshakes in hand, Aelita and Jeremy walked side by side through the streets. They stopped to watch a couple different street shows, tossing a handful of coins to the good performers. Looking out over the river, Jeremy stirred the straw of his strawberry milkshake while Aelita slurped up the last of her bananas foster shake. A family of ducks swam by, and Jeremy turned to his girlfriend.

"There's one more part to this date," he said. "Come on, we're going to the planetarium." Aelita was curious but stayed quiet, knowing that Jeremy would not give up his secret plans no matter what. They arrived at the planetarium and Jeremy held the door for her, a sneaky smile on his face.

An elderly man selling tickets grinned at the young couple. "Ah, our eight o'clock event. Go right on in." Aelita looked at the man, then at Jeremy, both of whom wore sly grins.

"What's going on here?" Aelita asked.

Jeremy smiled. "It's a surprise." They entered the dark room and sat in chairs next to each other in the first row, finding the place devoid of people. The elderly man followed them in, and closed the doors behind him. He strode to the podium and tapped the microphone before speaking into it.

"Hello folks and welcome to tonight's show! We're going to do things a little differently tonight, as Jeremy has something to say to Aelita." The elderly man smiled and stepped aside. Aelita watched as Jeremy stood up to take his place at the podium.

"Aelita," he said, "I really messed up. I ignored you all summer and there's no excuse for that. All I can do now is hope that you will forgive me." He pressed a button, and a starry sky lit up above them. Aelita's chair was automatically leaned back as the stars shined brightly. In the center of the starry sky, a picture of Aelita and Jeremy the day she was materialized appeared. Aelita smiled as Jeremy's narrative continued. "In the beginning, I had nothing. But then you appeared in my life, Aelita, and you changed me forever. You taught me to fight for what I believe in, and to show others how much I love them." A photo of the two of them in the lab appeared, her sitting on the arm of his chair. "Although we met through strange circumstances, I like to think we were meant to find each other." Another picture, this one of the two of them at their first high school dance. She wore a pink dress and boots with bows in her hair, and he wore a sweater vest on top of a polo shirt. "We've grown up together, been close enough to be family. It took years for me to get up the courage to say that I loved you, but once I said it I couldn't stop." A snapshot of her at a diner with a half eaten burger on her plate as she laughed and a dollop of ice cream on her nose. "Aelita, I love you. I love your intelligence, your grace, your kindness, and most of all, I love your patience, because there is no way that we would have gotten this far otherwise." A recent photo now, the two of them sitting on the bridge overlooking the water. Aelita smiled, remembering how Odd had posed the two of them so excitedly for that shot. "Thank you for loving me, Aelita, and please forgive me for messing up."

The show ended, though the room remained dark, stars projected above shining down on them. Jeremy stepped away from the podium and Aelita jumped up to hug him. "Of course I forgive you," Aelita said, her face buried in his neck. "And I love you too." They kissed, and the elderly man applauded. "Did you arrange this whole thing?" she asked.

Jeremy nodded. "It wasn't too hard. I came here a lot during the summer to relax, and Jackson and I got to talking most nights about the stars and planets after late shows. When I asked him to help me out he was more than happy, all I had to do was set up the slideshow."

The elderly man, Jackson, laughed. "Anything to help a fellow nerd find love! I don't know what I'd do if I lost my wife, she's the only thing in this world that keeps me grounded."

Aelita smiled, her arms still around her boyfriend. "Thank you Jackson, this was wonderful."

Leaving the planetarium, Aelita held Jeremy's hand. Their hands remained intertwined for the taxi ride back to the school, and even the walk up to the dorms. Jeremy kissed her sweetly, and she hugged him. Looking at her boyfriend, Aelita thought back to her conversation with Yumi. Were she and Jeremy ready to take that step? They loved each other, that was for sure. But they were still too innocent, and the wounds of the summer were fresh. Aelita hugged Jeremy once again, and kissed him goodnight.

"Goodnight, Aelita," Jeremy said, kissing her forehead. "Sweet dreams."

She kissed his cheek. "Goodnight Jeremy. I love you."

He smiled, his eyes crinkling up behind his glasses. "I love you too."

* * *

The next morning, Aelita woke up to a call from Yumi. "Morning," Aelita said groggily. "How did last night go?"

A pause on the phone made Aelita think she had been hung up on till Yumi responded, "Well, it's a long story."

Aelita checked the clock - no class for two hours. She lay back in bed, phone pressed to her ear. "I've got time. Let's hear it."

* * *

 **Very slight cliff hanger. We'll find out what happened with Ulrich and Yumi in the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed all the cute romantic crap I wrote. Leave reviews!**


	4. Missed Connections

**Let's see what Ulrich and Yumi were up to, shall we? Some sexual situations in this chapter, nothing graphic I promise. Enjoy!**

* * *

Yumi hated heels. Besides being uncomfortable, their incessant clicking on the floor of the dorm hallway would make it very difficult to be sneaky if she had to get home in a rush. Knocking on Ulrich's door, she almost ran into Odd, who was apparently rushing to leave.

"Oh, Yumi," he said. He glanced at her outfit and stopped. "Woah."

Yumi blushed. "Shut up. It's not that weird for me to want to dress up occasionally."

Odd crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Am I to take it that I should plan to be out late?"

"Odd!" Yumi growled in embarrassment. She may have been a head taller than him in her heels, but at the moment she felt like a little kid being admonished.

He laughed. "I'm kidding! But really - text me when it's safe? I've walked in on enough of your cuddle sessions, I don't need to see anything more."

"Thanks," she muttered.

He patted her on the shoulder and began to walk away. "Oh yeah," he called back loudly. "You look pretty!" He entered the stairwell and walked off, leaving Yumi standing in front of Ulrich's room with a burning face and sweaty palms. Odd had left his door open, so Yumi went in to put her purse down, closing the door in case a teacher walked by. She let her bag fall to the ground, surveying the room. Odd had left his bed unmade, as had Ulrich. On a whim, she started to clean up. She made Ulrich's bed, and threw Odd's topmost blanket over the mess below. Moving quickly, she worked to cleanse the majority of the mess, either by kicking it away or moving it onto a table. Didn't make much of a difference, but at least the room was a little calmer.

Hearing footsteps in the hall, Yumi sat on the bed and pulled one leg up seductively. She looked at the door with hooded eyes, mouth slightly open. She threw her arms back, pushing her chest forward, focusing her energy on not breathing too much.

The footsteps passed, and Yumi exhaled loudly. She had been practicing that position in the mirror and thought it would be a good one to get the mood going. Nerves were beginning to set in since she had stopped moving. Aelita was right, she needed to be ready for this. She stood and got into a fighting stance, throwing mock punches in the air to get her nerves out. She did a couple kicks for good measure, taking off the heels to improve her balance. She was so lost in the routine that she didn't hear Ulrich come in.

"Nice moves," he said, startling her. "But my room isn't great for fighting."

Yumi paused mid-kick, frozen. "You're here early."

He laughed sheepishly. "Actually, I'm late. They messed up the order so I had to wait a few minutes. They threw in some extra fortune cookies though!" He sat on his bed and started unloading containers, the smell of Chinese food making Yumi's stomach ache.

"What did you get?" she asked as she sat on the bed, the food containers sitting between them.

He shrugged with a smile. "Just the usual. Oh and I got chopsticks, don't worry." He began passing out containers, and as Yumi began devouring her orange chicken, she couldn't help but feel like she was messing up. This was supposed to be a sexy date, but he seemed oblivious, just chowing down on fried rice.

"So," Ulrich said, swallowing his food to clear his voice. "I have a stupid comedy movie, and a romantic comedy. Do you have a preference? I'm fine with either, or a double feature if we have the time for it." He looked up to see Yumi staring at him with an unreadable expression. "What? Do I have food all over my face?" He laughed, but couldn't help but worry. Yumi had been avoiding him the last couple days, and between the worry that she was upset with him and the stress of school, he just wanted to relax.

All Yumi could think was that she should have stuck with the glittery top. It may have been slutty, but Ulrich obviously did not get subtlety. She leaned over and kissed him, holding his face in her hands. In a breathy voice, she whispered, "Why don't we skip the movie tonight?" Ulrich nodded dumbly, moving the remains of their dinner onto the floor. Yumi pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around his neck and draping a leg over his. "Kiss me," she said sweetly, and he complied, putting his hands on her waist. He always enjoyed kissing Yumi, who wouldn't?

The kiss deepened, which he couldn't complain about. She used a bit of tongue, which was rare for her. He happily reciprocated as she pushed him back onto the bed, moving to lie on top of him. Ulrich lazily wrapped his arms around her back, preparing for a night of snuggling and kissing, a rare delicacy for the pair. But with Odd out for the night, it looked like that was a serious possibility. Yumi's kisses became more aggressive, and she began rocking her hips on his. Ulrich paused, moving his hands back to her waist. Yumi sat up suddenly to straddle him. She raised her arms and slipped the sweater off, leaving her wearing only a skirt and bra. Ulrich's eyes grew very, very wide.

"Yumi, what are you doing," he said, only to be smothered by Yumi kissing him again. At the back of his mind, Ulrich wondered if his girlfriend had been taken over by Xana, who had been known to be very seductive when need be.

There were hands on his crotch. Ulrich turned his head away from Yumi and pushed her away, grabbing her wrists firmly. "What the Hell are you doing?" he demanded, fire and fear mingling in his eyes. He sat up, leaning against the wall. Yumi stared at him, cheeks flushed and hair messy. There was a questioning silence between them as each tried to guess what the other was thinking.

"Don't you want to?" Yumi asked.

Ulrich sputtered, "Want to what?"

"Fine," she said in a huff, wrapping her arms around her chest. "I see how it is. You don't want me."

He blinked, eyes still wide with confusion. "Yumi, what are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about!" sh yelled.

"No, I don't!" he yelled back. "I have no idea what this is about, you're acting crazy!"

She stood, fists balled at her sides. "Oh, so it's crazy for me to want to grow up?!"

"What is this even about?" Ulrich yelled, throwing his hands up in the air.

"You should know!" she cried, turning away. "I guess it was wrong of me to assume that just once we could do something normal in this relationship!"

Flabbergasted, Ulrich turned to face the door, trying to collect his thoughts. Taking a breath, he turned around to face his girlfriend's back. "I'm just confused." He spoke slowly, taking great care with his words. "You took off your shirt, and then you just started grabbing at me...it was uncomfortable. Imagine if I did that, it would be weird, right? It's not that I find you unattractive, this was all just very unexpected and sudden."

Yumi saw herself in Ulrich's position, hands going in unexpected places that may or may not have been welcome. She whirled around, a terrified expression on her face. "Oh Ulrich I'm so sorry," she said. "I should have...but I didn't...you didn't want to have sex with me, I get that."

Ulrich froze. "Sex?!" he cried. "You wanted to have sex?!" They stared at each other in bewilderment. Ulrich took a breath. "How about you put your shirt on." Once again feeling like a little kid, Yumi picked up Aelita's sweater and tugged it over her head. Ulrich gestured for her to sit next to him on the bed.

"I'm really sorry," she said.

Ulrich sighed. "Look, this is all seeming very random to me right now. Could you please just explain what's been going on the last few days?"

Yumi nodded. "Just don't get mad."

"I won't get mad," Ulrich said, sincerely hoping there would be no reason to.

She stared at the floor as she talked, her fingers tangling with Ulrich's. "Okay so I was talking to William a few days ago and he said it was really obvious that we hadn't had sex, and he made me feel like it was really weird that we hadn't taken that step yet since he and Emily have been having sex for months. So I talked to Aelita and she said that it showed through in how we were never totally comfortable touching each other, like there was an invisible barrier or something, and I just hated that. So then I found out that Odd would be out of the room for the night and I thought maybe tonight would be a good time for us to have sex."

Ulrich stayed silent the whole time, mulling it over. "Okay," he said. "I'm going to try really hard to not be cliche and blame all this on William. Or Aelita, for that matter."

Yumi shook her head. "No, don't. They really didn't have much part in this. Aelita actually told me to talk to you before trying anything...guess I should have listened."

"Maybe," Ulrich said wryly.

"I just wanted to get it over with," she said quietly.

Ulrich held her hand firmly. "Yumi, we need to talk about these things. It's never smart to go into a situation blind, you know that, whether it's a violent enemy or something like this."

Yumi nodded. "Okay," she said. "So let's talk."

"First off," Ulrich said, beginning to count on his fingers. "No doing stuff without asking, especially new stuff. Second, privacy is important, especially considering I have a roommate with a video camera. Third, I don't want to do anything you're uncomfortable with, so you need to speak up about stuff. I'm a guy, sex stuff has a very slim chance of causing me pain. It's not the same for you."

She nodded more, cheeks burning. "Those are all good points. So...what now?"

"Now," Ulrich said, moving to slide a DVD into the player, "We do what we always do."

He and Odd had set up this tv to play video games, but ended up using it more for watching movies when neither of them could sleep. Ulrich had put the romantic comedy in, and soon he and Yumi were snuggled together under the covers of his bed eating fortune cookies and laughing at the weird fortunes they contained.

"This one says I will get a new pair of pants," Ulrich said.

"I can top that," Yumi said. "This one says 'help, trapped in cookie factory.' Maybe we should send a search and rescue team."

Ulrich laughed, moving to steal the fortune from her. "It does not say that." She giggled mischievously and threw the fortune across the room to join the trash on the floor. Ulrich gasped and tickled his girlfriend, making her squeal. She turned to face him and captured his hands in her own, leaning in for a kiss. He happily reciprocated and soon they were languidly kissing, the movie all but forgotten.

"Do you want me to do something more?" Ulrich asked, looking to her with serious eyes. She nodded and whispered into his ear, her cheeks blushing at her instructions. The night progressed well, and Yumi made a mental note to wash this sweater before returning it to Aelita. When they said their goodbyes at the end of the night, her lips were swollen from kissing and her body tingled as though his hands were still on her. Settling into her bed that night, Yumi wondered if she was heading down a dangerous path here. She and Ulrich loved each other, that was obvious. But she had crossed the line when she didn't ask his permission.

"I basically molested him," she muttered as she realized with a start how bad things could have gone tonight. The next morning she would call Aelita to report, but for now it was time to sleep. Yumi drifted off thinking about Ulrich's kisses and Chinese food.

* * *

 **Cute? Romantic? Lame? Tell me in the comments!**


	5. Either With or Against

**Getting this up quickly because why not. Enjoy!**

* * *

"So what did you guys end up doing?" Aelita asked after Yumi finished her story.

Yumi paused, speaking quietly so her parents wouldn't hear her talking on the phone. "We did stuff with our hands - but over our clothes. Nothing came off."

Aelita nodded. "I'm not sure I can even imagine doing even that with Jeremy."

"What, the date didn't go well?"

"No, it was fine." Aelita began to move around her room to pick out clothes for the day. "He was really sweet. I just can't see us doing that sort of thing."

Yumi laughed. "You guys have been dating for longer than Ulrich and I have, it's almost ironic how this is progressing."

"I guess we're just not sexual people," Aelita said with a shrug, though her mind was bothered.

A week later Aelita was still thinking about that conversation. On the walk to breakfast that Saturday morning, Aelita found herself mulling over what Yumi had said. Was it weird that she and Jeremy had such a platonic relationship? She knew Jeremy wasn't asexual - they had first discussed sex after he got a boner from a movie they were watching. They kissed on occasion, and held hands and hugged when the mood was right. And she had sexual feelings of her own, just none that she wanted to share with a person. Aelita shrugged, deciding not to worry about these things so early in the morning.

Stepping into the cafeteria, Aelita immediately spotted Odd and Sam at their usual table. Odd had his video camera out as usual, and Sam appeared to be telling a story of some sort. Aelita approached the scene quietly, not wanting to mess up his movie while trying to keep her hot chocolate from spilling. Odd had been filming Sam almost constantly the last week, and frankly it was a bit awkward for the rest of their friends. They couldn't sit down for a group meal without fear of being filmed, and Odd seemed to get a bit annoyed whenever Sam got distracted from a story she was telling the camera. So, Aelita decided to sneak by quietly.

But Odd spotted her, whipping the camera around to stare at her with its blank, judging lens. "And here she comes, Aelita Superstar, one of Sam's many celebrity friends." Both girls rolled their eyes, patient smiles on their faces.

"Really though," Aelita asked. "What is with all the camera action these days?" She sat, deciding she might as well stay.

Sam laughed. "He's making a movie about me. It'll be boring, but apparently his aim is to put the audiences to sleep."

Odd scowled. "Be nice, girlfriend. How about we go to the skate park today at lunch, I'll get some good shots of you on your board."

She nodded, turning a bit pink. "Yeah, sure. Sounds fine."

Packing his camera away, Odd stayed cool. "Nice, let's leave right before lunch." Sam stared at him a moment, then kissed his cheek before quickly leaving the cafeteria. Aelita watched the whole scenario with raised eyebrows and wide eyes.

"So...that was different. I knew you guys had gone official, but...how is it?" She sipped her drink, looking to Odd for an explanation.

He grinned nervously. "It's official, but she's taking some time to get used to it. The word 'girlfriend' still makes her blush, but she's getting better."

Aelita smiled. "That's good, I remember you were pretty upset when she insisted you go to the spring formal together as friends last year."

Odd nodded. "It was just annoying, the whole back and forth that went on. Some things are ok, some aren't. We're friends, but we're more than friends. We're exclusive, but we're not dating. It all felt a little too junior high for my taste."

"You've grown up a lot, Odd." Aelita began digging into her fruit salad, spearing a piece of cantaloupe with her fork. "It used to be you would go after a girl and stay together for a week, tops. Then one of you would dump the other for some petty reason. The fact that you've put this much time and effort into Sam says something."

He shrugged sheepishly. "I guess. Oh yeah, did Jeremy apologize for being an ass all summer?"

Aelita rolled her eyes. "He wasn't that much of an ass, he was just busy. He told me about his big project, it's pretty involved. I can understand why he got so wrapped up in it."

Odd frowned. "Hey, don't pretend nothing happened. I'm glad you guys made up, but you were upset for months. That kind of hurt doesn't just go away."

"Things are fine now," Aelita said firmly. "At least, I think they are." She looked around, checking that no one was listening. "I haven't seen him all week though, he's been busy. It's impossible to find a time we're both free, plus I'll be going out tonight for a gig."

Odd put a sympathetic hand on hers. "Well good luck at the gig. Hopefully the Einstein gets it together."

Across campus, Ulrich was battling a hungry stomach in his struggle to focus on his finance class. His dad appeared to have chosen his classes without looking at their times - because why else would he sign Ulrich up for an eight am math class on the weekend? All his classes were designed to prepare him to study business at university...it seemed as though his father had Ulrich's whole life planned out. After class finally ended, Ulrich began packing up to go, rushing to yet another event on his schedule. His father had insisted he meet with the school's academic counselor once a week to make sure he was on track for university.

He dashed into the administration building, his footsteps thundering in the halls. When he reached the counsellor's office, the secretary simply waved him in, all too used to seeing frantic students in a rush.

"Ulrich," the counsellor called from her desk. "Come in." Ulrich entered the office as gracefully as he could while lugging a heavy book bag and struggling to catch his breath.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he said. "I had an early class, plus a bunch of homework. And I know, it's not good that I failed that math quiz, but I'm already studying for the next one."

The counsellor shook her head. "Ulrich, the year has only just started. Grades aren't what I want to discuss, I'd rather focus on you. How has the year been so far?"

"Fine," Ulrich said, setting his bag down on the floor as he took a seat.

"How many classes are you taking?" She asked.

Ulrich paused, then fished a crumpled schedule from his pocket. He scanned the paper, counting quietly to himself. "Uh...nine. No wait, ten. Are we counting electives as classes too? If so then it's fourteen."

The counsellor stared at the young pupil with wide eyes. "Ten classes? Most students take seven at most! And what are those electives?"

Placing the paper on the desk, Ulrich guided her through his schedule. "Well, I have two language courses, French and German. My family is from Germany but I've grown up mainly in France, so I'm at level three German and level six French. I'm taking French literature also, plus a European history class. I'm taking a drawing class to satisfy my art requirement. Then there's Finance, Calculus, Statistics, and then for science I have Engineering and Chemistry."

The counsellor was quiet, eyes glued to the schedule. "I see for electives you have quite a variety. You've signed up for football in the fall, and basketball in the spring. You're on the debate team, in the Japanese culture club, and you're a member of Model U.N." She paused to stare at him with a pained expression. "Ulrich I wasn't even aware the school schedule allowed for this much! Are you sure you don't want to drop something?"

Ulrich shrugged awkwardly. "It's complicated."

The counsellor looked at his weekly class schedule with concern. "Let's talk about this finance class. It meets Saturday mornings and afternoons, along with Sunday afternoons and evenings. The course is designed for seniors with serious plans to enter the business world after university, why are you taking it as a junior?"

"Well, that's what my dad wants me to do," Ulrich explained. "He runs this big corporation that oversees a bunch of factories and chain stores. I'm supposed to go to university in Munich and study business so I can take over the company. That's why there are so many math and science courses on my schedule."

The counsellor gently suggested, "Maybe you could drop some of these electives?"

"Well, I like most of them," he said. "Debate and Model U.N. were my dad's idea, and they're ok. But I like sports, and the Japanese Culture Club has its uses."

"Ulrich, you're studying German and French, not Japanese." She appeared confused.

He smiled sheepishly. "Well, it's really for my girlfriend. She's Japanese, and I thought it would be good to learn more about her culture. Plus I like the club. I've been in it for a couple years now. We watch anime, celebrate holidays, make traditional food, and sometimes go to museums for special exhibits. It's been a lot of fun. I've even learned a couple phrases in the language!"

The counsellor smiled. "Well I'm glad you have a bit of fun in your schedule. I'm just concerned that you might be pushing yourself too hard, there's barely any time for meals in here!"

Ulrich nodded. He knew he hadn't eaten much this week, but it was really his schedule's fault. His classes were so crammed together that he only had time for breakfast most days, and his breaks between classes were at odd hours when the cafeteria wasn't serving food. "That's been a bit of a problem," he admitted.

"Okay look," The counsellor said with a stern expression. "I'm not going to hold you back. If you think you can handle all this, then I will be with you the whole way. But if you find yourself overwhelmed with work, then you'll have to prioritize a bit. As for the food issue, I'm going to talk to the head of the cafeteria and have them set aside some food for you. No student is going to starve in the name of academics on my watch."

Ulrich smiled gratefully. "That would be fantastic," he admitted. "I've been eating breakfast every day, but my schedule only works around lunch on Tuesdays, and there's been no time for dinner."

The counsellor shook her head. "Disgraceful. Now for university, just keep your grades up and you should be fine."

Ulrich nodded and stood to go. "Thanks," he said. The woman waved him out, and Ulrich jogged away, his next class starting in less than ten minutes.

Yumi watched Ulrich run by with a disappointed expression, her lips pouting slightly. Aelita approached her and sat down daintily, a notebook in hand. "What's up?" she asked gently.

Yumi sighed. "I miss Ulrich. It's great when we're together, but it's really difficult to coordinate our schedules."

"Well, maybe you could have a study date," Aelita suggested. "Jeremy and I had a lot of those last year."

She shook her head. "We're in completely different classes. I could help him review flashcards or practice French vocabulary but that's all."

Aelita patted her friend's shoulder comfortingly. "There there, you can snuggle with your boyfriend soon."

Rolling her eyes, Yumi forced a change of subject. "So what did you want to show me?"

"Ooh!" Aelita immediately grew excited, tucking her pink and blue hair behind her ears. "Well, my manager was talking to some record producers, and he said that they said that they want me to produce an album for company."

Yumi grinned. "That's great!"

The younger girl nodded. "It is, but I'm going to have to start with just a demo, a couple original songs. It's tough though because I usually either remix popular pop songs or put beats together for a crowd to dance to. This stuff has to be original, and it has to be interesting. Apparently the record producers even want lyrics."

"That is tough," Yumi agreed. "How far along are you?"

Aelita opened her notebook, extracting a pen from her bag. "I have some ideas, but not many. What am I even supposed to write a song about?"

"What ideas do you have?" Yumi asked, peering at the notebook curiously.

"Again, not many," Aelita said with obvious frustration. "I thought about doing something with nature sounds, or maybe mixing together a lot of everyday sounds to make a beat."

"Could work," Yumi said. "But I'm not very musically inclined. Odd would be a better person to bounce ideas off of."

"Yeah, but I don't want to interrupt his film making with Sam." Aelita thought back to this morning, and how awkward it felt to interrupt him interviewing her.

Yumi smiled gently. "I'm sure he would be happy to help. So, how are things with Jeremy?"

"It's ok," Aelita said. "We definitely patched things up on our date, though I haven't seen him all week."

"Isn't that him?" Yumi pointed to across the lawn, where Jeremy was walking with three senior girls who appeared to be hanging onto his every word. The girls were very attractive, and Jeremy was red in the face.

Aelita fumed, fighting the urge to run over and confront him. "I'm going to class," she said through gritted teeth. Yumi looked after her with concern, then turned her attention back to the strange scene across the lawn. The girls were all tall and well groomed, though they didn't appear to be flirting with Jeremy.

"And that," Jeremy explained. "Is why crystalline Boron is resistant to hydrochloric acid."

"See, now it makes sense!" Candace exclaimed.

Liza squeezed Jeremy's arm affectionately. "I'm gonna bake you another batch of cookies, Jeremy. You're the only person who can explain chemistry to me in a way that makes sense." The girls were all in the same class as Jeremy, and had sought him out by the teacher's suggestion.

Jessica grinned. "Maybe now I won't fail today's test."

Jeremy simply smiled encouragingly. "It helps to read the textbook before class so you already have a basis of information for when the professor is teaching. That way you know what he's talking about, and you don't have to take as many notes."

"Knowing you, you probably read the whole textbook over the summer," Candace laughed, and the others joined as Jeremy smiled sheepishly.

"Only the first few chapters," he admitted. "Didn't want to get too far ahead."

He looked across the lawn to see Yumi sitting on a bench looking at him, and he waved at her before entering the science building to go to class. Yumi waved back, her mind trying to understand what she had just witnessed, not having heard any of it.

"Hey," Odd said, standing nearby. He looked around the lawn, craning his neck in every direction. "Have you seen Sam around?"

Yumi shook her head. "No, sorry."

"Not your fault she ditched me." Odd scowled and sat next to her. "We were supposed to meet twenty minutes ago to go out, I was hoping to film her skating. So far it's been mostly casual stuff, but I need some good still footage of her talking to the camera."

"Maybe she forgot," Yumi suggested.

He sighed. "Maybe."

They sat in silence for a moment, Odd reflecting on his relationship and film as Yumi thought about Jeremy and his gaggle of girls. She turned to Odd. "Any idea why Jeremy would have a group of senior girls following him around hanging on his every word?" She asked.

Odd nodded. "He's in a lot of advanced classes with seniors, and he tutors a lot. Why, did this actually happen?"

Yumi nodded. "And Aelita saw."

"Ooh," Odd hissed. "I mean, there's no reason to be jealous. At least, I don't think there is."

Across campus, Aelita sat in her Danish classroom fuming, scribbling in her notebook. Strangely enough, her anger was inspiring some seriously complex music. She had barely seen Jeremy all week, and then she sees him walking around with some hot senior girls? Aelita didn't believe in coincidences. Still in a huff, she started to walk to her dorm. The gig was tonight, and she was getting picked up soon.

"Aelita!" Odd called, jogging towards her.

She let out a small groan. "What is it Odd? I'm kinda busy."

"Can we talk about stuff?" he asked, pulling a cute face he knew she couldn't resist.

Aelita let a smile slip out. "Fine. Come on, I have to get ready for a gig." Odd followed Aelita up to her room obediently. When they reached her single room, Odd sat in her desk chair as she began laying possible outfits on her bed.

"What do you think?" She asked. "Jeremy never knows anything about clothes, it's ok if you don't have any ideas."

"Well," Odd said, "Where are you going?"

"Club Petit."

He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "That's a more upscale club. I'd say the black leggings with the blue dress. Do you have any boots?" Aelita nodded and pulled some options out of her wardrobe. "Go with the white lace up boots."

"Alright," Aelita said. "I'm going to trust your judgement on this since I'm in a hurry. Look out the window while I change, okay?"

Odd dutifully turned away, even pulling his hands up to the sides of his face so she would know he wasn't peeking. "How do you know if a girl doesn't like you?" he asked.

"Uh, usually people are asking the opposite question," Aelita laughed. "What, more issues with Sam?"

"Yeah," he said. "We were supposed to hang out today and she ditched me. It's happened a couple times this week actually, it's annoying. I mean I ask her to hang out not just because I'm bored, I ask her because I want to see her, and the movie I'm making is important to me."

"Did she give you an explanation?" Aelita asked as she laced up her boots. "You can turn around."

Odd nodded as he spun in her chair. "She texted me saying 'sorry about today, I was hungry and got distracted by lunch,' which is a lame excuse." He stopped his rant to observe Aelita picking out jewelry. "Wear the silver ones," he said.

Aelita paused to look at him belligerently. "I know! Geez, I never expected you to be an undercover fashion guru."

He shrugged. "I grew up with a bunch of sisters, remember?" He stayed quiet as Aelita struggled to style her hair, eventually pulling it back into a stylish bun.

As Aelita began her makeup routine, she decided it was her turn to rant. "You think you have it bad with Sam...I swear, I thought things were okay after the date Jeremy and I had, then today I see him wandering around with a bunch of hot senior girls."

"Are you sure you're not reading too much into this?" Odd asked carefully. "He might have classes with them and just be helping them with homework."

She scowled at the mirror. "I'm not ready to assume the best of him right now, Odd."

Odd paused as she continued to apply makeup, painting her lips with lipstick and gloss. "You don't need all that," he said. "You're pretty on your own."

Aelita stopped to turn and stare at Odd. "Thanks," she said, a bit startled.

"Why do you put all that on?" Odd asked.

She laughed. "Compared to some girls at clubs I wear very little! It's really just lipstick, eyeliner, and foundation. I'm going to stick some jewels on my face in a second, my manager wants me to figure out a look to stick with that'll make me recognizable."

Odd shrugged. "Your body, your decision." He had chosen a good outfit for Aelita, flattering but not too revealing, modern without being too wild.

"I gotta go," she said, opening her phone to send a text to her manager. "Adam is going to be pulling up in the car any minute now."

"Adam, is that your manager?" Odd asked as he stood and stretched.

She nodded, filling a small purse with her phone, wallet, keys, and a small bottle of water. "Yes, and he's a beast if I'm late. Anything urgent you need to get off your chest before you go?"

Seeing how rushed Aelita was, Odd decided to stay quiet about the Jeremy issue. "No, you go ahead. I'll put your stuff away for you."

Aelita grinned. "My hero. I'll make it up to you. Bye!" She dashed out the door, grateful that Odd had picked boots instead of heels. She was very happy with the outfit he picked, though she felt nervous knowing that Adam would not be happy at her lack of progress with the album. Odd watched from the window as Aelita got into a black SUV, a man with curly brown hair and sunglasses ushering her in.

"That must be Adam," he muttered to himself. As he put Aelita's clothes back into her wardrobe, Odd wondered if Jeremy had done this for her before. Considering that he wore khakis and polos or sweaters every day in a very small color range, Odd decided it was doubtful. Living with sisters, Odd wasn't weirded out by seeing a stray bra hanging over the door of Aelita's dresser, though again he realized that not many guys probably did these kinds of things for their female friends.

Seeing a pad of sticky notes and a marker on Aelita's desk, Odd grinned and scribbled a message before leaving her room, leaving the sticker on her bed. "Hope you had fun tonight," it read. "You looked gorgeous (thanks to me)."

Because all friends did that, didn't they?

* * *

 **We'll get to see Aelita's life as a professional artist soon, I promise. Hope that little description of Ulrich and Yumi's explorations wasn't too risque for some ;) kidding, obviously. Leave reviews and I'll keep updating quickly!**


	6. Priorities

**Prepare for conflict. Otherwise, enjoy!**

* * *

It wasn't till mid October that Jeremy discovered the truth. He rarely went online, but he was beginning to get desperate for ideas to further his project. Odd and Ulrich had suggested he create a virtual reality video game, but that seemed too juvenile for his tastes. Yumi had suggested building scanners of his own, but there was no way he could get the funding for that. He had asked Aelita for suggestions multiple times but she never had any real ideas, always seeming a bit uncomfortable at the mention of virtual worlds and Lyoko. So, he turned to the Internet. He had typed in "travel to virtual worlds" without hope for any results, only to be met with a plethora of articles on the exact same subject.

Opening one of those articles, Jeremy almost fell off his chair. The title read in bold title, "Scientist at Oxford University Discovers Virtual Reality Travel," with a picture of Professor Aldridge, the man who less than a month ago had told Jeremy that his project was a pipe dream.

In a fury that left him reeling, Jeremy rushed across campus with his laptop. "Do you see this?!" he yelled, slamming the door to Ms. Gutierrez's classroom open. "It's ridiculous! Who does he think he is, stealing my project?" Seeing the teacher's confusion, Jeremy opened his laptop frantically, pointing to the picture of Mr. Aldridge. "I'm going to fight this," he insisted, pacing madly. "Does he really think he can understand the complexities of coded DNA translating into computer data without the algorithm of safely forming a human body with currents of electricity? I'll tell you one thing, he won't get anywhere without the original work! I'm taking him down Ms. Gutierrez, are you with me?" He paused to stare at her, breathing heavily from his rant.

She stared at him, then looked past him. "Um, could we talk about this after class?"

Jeremy turned to see thirty very startled classmates staring at him with a mixture of awe and fear. He blushed brightly and backed out of the classroom muttering apologies. Thirty minutes later, he stared at the floor as the class exited, all staring at him with disconcerted expressions. Inside, Mrs. Gutierrez sat at her desk.

"Jeremy," she said, "I'm upset about Professor Aldridge's actions too. But there's nothing we can do."

"What?" Jeremy said. "But he stole my work!"

She shrugged helplessly. "The fact is, you had no copyright on your work, and he is an established professor with countless publications and grants. There's no way to prove that you thought of this project, even though you and I both know you did."

Jeremy paced. "There might be a way to prove it, actually. But it would take time, and we would need a formal presentation."

Mrs. Gutierrez blinked. "Wait, what do you mean a way to prove it? Were you filming our work sessions over the summer or something?"

Jeremy grinned. "When I get all my information together, you won't even be worried about something as trivial as that." He left quickly, a storm of ideas entering his mind, leaving Ms. Gutierrez in the dust. Walking back to his dorm room, he noticed Aelita sitting in the grass scribbling in a notebook, leaves falling around her.

"Aelita," he called, rushing to her. "You won't believe what happened, this Oxford professor is trying to steal my project, but I think I have a way to beat him."

She nodded distractedly. "That's nice Odd," she said.

Jeremy paused, waving a hand in front of her face. "Hello? Aelita?"

She looked up, startled. "Jeremy! I thought you were Odd for some reason."

"Oh," Jeremy said. "Well I'm not,"

She nodded, turning back to her notebook. "What did you say about Oxford?"

"A professor there is stealing my project!" Jeremy cried. "Ms. Gutierrez says there's nothing I can do, but I have my video diaries from over the years, my files from Franz Hopper, and I can start up the supercomputer to show that I know how scanners work and he doesn't. He's never going to beat me."

Aelita stared at her boyfriend in alarm. "Jeremy, you can't tell anyone about that stuff! Keeping Lyoko secret has been rule number one for years, you know that."

"But he can't steal my work," Jeremy said fiercely. "I've spent years developing theories and research on digital transportation. I wrote a materialization program - twice! I created teleportation, I reversed the passage of time, I saved the world multiple times! We all did!"

"And what happens to the rest of us?" Aelita asked angrily, slamming her notebook onto the ground. "Dammit Jeremy the world doesn't revolve around you and your issues. If you expose the truth, we are all screwed. All my documentation is fake, if you reveal who I really am then I'll probably end up locked up in a government lab somewhere. What about Odd, and Ulrich, and Yumi? They dedicated years of their lives to being Lyoko warriors, breaking laws and lying to their teachers and families. They could go to jail, we could all go to jail. There's a reason that we haven't told our story to anyone except William, it's because our lives are on the line and have been since you first turned on that damn supercomputer!"

Jeremy stared at his girlfriend, appalled. "So what, I should never have turned on the supercomputer?"

"No one should have created that stupid thing!" she yelled. "That computer froze my life for ten years, it's because of that computer that I lost my mother."

"Aelita, you're not seeing the big picture," Jeremy said, pinching his brow with frustration. She stood, deciding to get in his face.

"No Jeremy, you're the one who can't see." They stood in a silent face off, close enough to feel the other's breath on their face.

Jeremy took a step back, struggling to control his temper. "Look," he said with strained calm. "This project is really important to me, and I can't let this guy get away with stealing my ideas."

"I get that," Aelita said, staring at him with subdued passion. "You think I wouldn't be mad if someone stole my music? We each have something personal that we're defensive of, remember."

He nodded, thinking over what she had said. "I just don't think it's that risky to tell the truth," he said finally, shrugging his shoulders in defeat.

Aelita sighed. "Look, the truth can be a painful thing. Sometimes it's best to keep secrets, for the sakes of those we love. If you want to unveil your research and projects, feel free. But keep my name out of it, and ask the others if you're going to use theirs."

"That's fair," Jeremy said. "It's really nothing to freak out about."

Rage entered Aelita's eyes again, a rage she struggled to contain. "Jeremy, I am a secret. My documentation is fake, my last name is fake, everything about me on paper is a lie. You tell someone the truth about my past, or give them any link to it, and I could end up in a very bad situation. I just told you this."

He stared at the sky briefly for guidance. "Aelita, I know what you just told me. I just don't understand what you're so afraid of. Opening up about the Lyoko project could lead to amazing recognition for me in the scientific community, it could be my ticket into the best universities in the world!"

"College isn't everything," she insisted. "And you already have fantastic grades, why wouldn't they let you in?"

Jeremy stared at her. "You just don't get it. College is important to me."

"I know it is!" Aelita said, throwing her hands in the air. "You spent your whole summer working to impress colleges, obviously it's the most important thing in the world to you."

"I'm glad you understand," Jeremy said, crossing his arms. "Because that's why I'm going to keep fighting."

She pouted a bit, staring at the ground. "Yeah ok. Just don't bring my name into it." He smiled, and stepped forward, arms outstretched for a hug. Aelita shrugged him off, turning to walk away.

"Aelita?" he asked with confusion.

She kept walking. "I'll see you later," she called back quietly. Jeremy stared at the ground, feeling ashamed.

In her dorm room, Aelita stared at her ceiling as she replayed the conversation she had just had with Jeremy. It was ridiculous, this idea of being truthful. Did he not realize how much was on the line? Her father worked to keep his project secret for a reason, dammit. He knew the project was too powerful to be in the hands of the government, or the public, or anyone for that matter. His insane obsession with Lyoko had been his demise, and now Jeremy could be heading down the same path.

"Tell me about your mom," Odd said, his camera set up on a tripod next to him. Sam stared at her hands, fiddling a stress ball distractedly.

"She's a bitch," she said firmly. "She was always going away for business, and she loved telling me to be a lady. Every time she saw she'd say 'Samantha, don't you want to wear some lovely skirts? Why don't we put ribbons in your hair?' She's never been very proud of the path I've taken. When I told her I wasn't going to go to college she freaked out."

Odd suppressed a cough, finding new information about Sam from every film. "How was her relationship with your dad?"

Sam shrugged. "I mean I thought it was fine. Then it came out that she had been cheating on him during half of those supposed business trips. And then Dad revealed that he had not one, but two girlfriends. I don't know what happened to make them do that, but it's messed up the whole family."

"And what's your dad like?" Odd asked. He had set up a whole mini studio here in his dorm room, lights glowing onto the chair that Sam sat in.

"He's ok, I guess." Sam stared at the camera. "Don't get me wrong, I love my parents. They're just not always the best people for me to be around. Dad and I get along, and he's supported me in my skating, but I get really sick of waking up to his girlfriend making scrambled eggs while wearing his shirts - and nothing but his shirts." She smiled wryly, and Odd grinned back at her.

"Any fond memories of your time together?" he asked, checking his camera's battery.

"Well when I was eight we went to a skating show all together, the three of us. They had real pros there doing demonstrations and my mom actually seemed impressed for once. Makes me hope that once I'm at that level, she'll finally start accepting who I am as a person instead of just her daughter."

A knock on the door interrupted their interview. "Odd?" Ulrich called. "Why is this door locked?"

Odd stood quickly to go to the door, peering out at his roommate. "Hey, could you come back in twenty minutes or so? I'm finishing up an interview with Sam." He studied Ulrich's face for a moment, suddenly noticing the dark circles under his eyes. "You doing ok, good buddy?"

Ulrich nodded tiredly. "It's cool. I can study in the library."

"Ulrich, you look like you need sleep more than study," Odd joked, his eyes remaining concerned as his mouth turned into a smile.

"Eh, I'm okay." Ulrich suppressed a yawn. "Just gotta get some coffee." He wandered down the hall, scratching his messy head of hair. Odd turned back into the room with a confident grin to give a thumbs up to his girlfriend.

"Let's roll, baby." He adjusted his lens and continued his interview, hanging on to her every word.

"Yumi, we need to talk." Aelita tapped her fingers nervously as she spoke, standing outside the Ishiyama household with a nervous air around her.

Yumi nodded, ushering her friend inside. "What's up? Something with Jeremy?"

"Yes, though this is a bit more serious than any other issue we've had before. Are your parents home?" Aelita asked, looking around warily. Yumi shook her head. "Good." They sat in the living room, and Yumi quickly handed her friend some tea, noticing Aelita's hands shaking slightly.

"Seriously, what happened?" Yumi asked, rubbing small circles on Aelita's back.

Aelita took a breath. "A university professor is stealing Jeremy's project, so now Jeremy is preparing to release his own research to prove his ownership of the project."

Yumi's brow furrowed. "Uh...well first off, what is the project about? I'm not in the loop with that."

"It's about digital worlds," Aelita said with a stony expression. "You know where that research originated."

"Lyoko?" Yumi whispered with wide eyes. "No. Jeremy wouldn't let the truth slip out."

"He would!" Aelita said. "I got him to agree to keep my name out of it, and to keep your names out too...but Yumi, we've seen this before. People find one piece of information, then they want to know everything. And if he reveals where all his research is coming from, then my father's name comes into this, which brings my name into it."

"And we can't have the government finding out about you," Yumi said, now glaring intensely at her mug of tea. "Why would Jeremy go this far?"

"He's a proud man," Aelita sighed. "Though right now he's acting more like an irate little boy."

"We'll get Odd and Ulrich on board, then have a vote on the matter." Yumi was decisive, nodding her head as though affirming her decision.

The rest of the week went smoothly, save for Yumi only seeing Ulrich in passing, which was getting very frustrating. Finally, Saturday night arrived, and Yumi set her plan forward. She had already spoken to Odd, who agreed that Jeremy wasn't thinking straight. Tonight she and Ulrich had arranged to have a date, where she would tell him Jeremy's plan.

Yumi knocked on Ulrich's door softly. When he didn't respond, she knocked harder. "What the Hell?" She muttered to herself, deciding to test the doorknob, which she was surprised was not locked. Dorm students were supposed to lock their doors whenever they weren't inside...but it seemed Ulrich was. Cracking the door open by just a sliver, Yumi peered inside to see her boyfriend lying facedown in his bed, snoring softly. He wore only a pair of boxers, his j5eans and shirt lying on the floor next to him. She laughed and quietly entered the room, closing and locking the door behind her.

"Ulrich," she called softly, rubbing his shoulder. "Wake up." He did not move. With a devilish grin, the Japanese girl began placing soft kisses along his neck and shoulders, whispering naughty words to him as she massaged his back.

With a low groan, Ulrich stirred from his slumber. "Yumi? What time is it?"

"The sun set ten minutes ago, if that's what you're asking," Yumi tittered.

Ulrich sat up with a start, then relaxed. "Wait it's Saturday...that's ok. Sunday is the evening class."

"Maybe I should have let you sleep," Yumi said. "You look exhausted." Besides his now constant bed head, Ulrich also sported deep shadows under his eyes and a few faint lines on his forehead from stress.

"Nah, I'm ok," Ulrich said with a weak grin. "That nap really refreshed me."

"You sure?" Yumi asked with genuine concern. "We can reschedule."

"Why would I want to reschedule," Ulrich let his voice trail. "When I have a gorgeous girl here with me?" With that he pulled Yumi down onto the bed with him, kissing her deeply. She grinned against his lips and began kissing him back.

Yumi sat up to pull her shirt over her head. "Seems only fair," she said. "Keep kissing me like that and the jeans might go as well." Ulrich only smiled and pulled his girlfriend in for a kiss. When Yumi left hours later, she couldn't get a grin off her face. They hadn't gone all the way - but they did get damn close. If she didn't have a ten o'clock curfew, she had no doubt in her mind what would have transpired that night.

Back in his dorm, Ulrich lay on his bed with his eyes closed, thinking over his day. He had gone to finance in the morning, gotten some lunch, gone to afternoon finance class, studied and done his homework, talked to his dad on the phone...then prepared to take a shower to relieve the stress of that phone call. But he had fallen asleep as soon as he sat on his bed to take his socks off. Maybe he was overworked. Maybe he should drop a couple classes.

"Dammit Ulrich you're just never up to the task, are you?"

His father's voice echoed in his mind, and Ulrich pulled the blankets tighter around him. Seeing Yumi had been nice. He focused on the memories of holding her, seeing her smile, and gradually his breathing slowed. He hadn't expected things to move so fast tonight, though he couldn't complain.

An hour after dorm curfew, Odd tiptoed into the room, closing the door as quietly as possible. He glanced at Ulrich, who stared back at the boy. "You should be asleep," Odd said.

"And you should have been back from Sam's an hour ago," Ulrich said wryly. "I guess we both have our dark sides."

Odd sighed. "Fine. You should sleep though. You look terrible."

"Yumi doesn't seem to think so," Ulrich said slyly, grinning at his roommate.

"Oh really?" Odd asked, raising his eyebrows. He began to strip for bed. "What have you lovebirds been getting up to?"

"None of your business," Ulrich said smugly.

Odd fell back onto his bed. "So you're having sex," he said with a yawn. "Cool, good for you."

"We are not!" Ulrich cried with a blush.

Odd shrugged. "Look, it's whatever. Just use a condom, alright? Don't want Yumi getting knocked up now, do we?"

Ulrich simply mumbled angrily and turned to face the wall. As Odd's snores filled the room, Ulrich retreated back to his thoughts. A shopping trip was needed, it seemed.

* * *

 **Hope that wasn't too much. I love awkward Odd and Ulrich scenes. Leave reviews!**


	7. Get Ready

**Kicking off the new year with an update. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Jeremy, we need to talk," Aelita said into her phone. "Meet me in my room after lunch, it's important." She snapped the phone shut and turned to the others in her dorm room.

"You left a voicemail?" Odd said critically. "What if he doesn't get it?"

"Then we'll reschedule," Ulrich said firmly.

"Or we go to his room and make him listen to us," Yumi interjected

Aelita held up a hand to silence the group. "Let's not assume anything right now. I think we're all clear on the plan - talk to Jeremy about this business with the professor, and get him to calm down."

They all nodded. Yumi furrowed her brow. "Should we involve William in this? He's a Lyoko warrior too."

They all turned to Ulrich, who shrugged. "Hey, I have nothing against the guy. Though if we involve him, it turns to six people, which could cause a tie."

Odd shook his head. "I don't think so. I know where I stand, and we all seem to be agreeing. Even if William sided with Jeremy, we would have the majority."

"Then it's settled," Yumi said. "I'll talk to him during Italian and fill him in on what's going on."

A loud beeping startled them all. Ulrich sheepishly turned his watch alarm off, shouldering his backpack. "Sorry, I have chemistry class. I'll see you guys after lunch though, promise." He gave a quick kiss to Yumi before jogging away, his eyes darting between his watch and the halls ahead of him. Yumi went off to class a few minutes later, leaving Odd and Aelita alone in her room.

"Are you sure you're ok with this?" Odd asked.

Aelita nodded. "Yeah, Jeremy needs to understand the repercussions of his plan." She yawned. "I think I might take a nap beforehand though, the gig last night tired me out."

"Are you sure you can handle all this work?" Odd asked.

"Trust me, the gigs are the least stress for me right now." She opened her desk to retrieve her notebook, flipping through the pages. "My manager is having me work on this demo album and it's been a lot tougher than expected to write original songs. This stuff with Jeremy has helped though."

Odd looked over the pages, humming the tune to himself as he read the lyrics. "A crooning love ballad and an angry betrayal song? Sounds cool enough."

Aelita nodded with a faint smile. "It's difficult to plan without a mixing table but Adam said he made reservations at a studio for next month."

"Are you going to sing the songs?" Odd asked.

"Yeah," Aelita said, sitting on her bed. "I was thinking of asking Yumi to do backup vocals, or maybe a duet. You know how she likes to sing."

Odd grinned. "Whenever we go to a concert, she sings along. She thinks we don't hear her over the crowd though, so don't say anything."

"It's too bad Jeremy doesn't like concerts," Aelita said forlornly. "I've offered to get him tickets to my gigs but he always passes."

"Wait," Odd said with wide eyes. "You can get us into nightclubs when you're playing there?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I told you when I was playing at The Angry Fish last spring."

"I thought you meant just that one night!" Odd cried. "Oh this is awesome!"

Aelita laughed as she stood to turn on her computer. "I can't give you passes to every show. How about this - I'll email you and the others my gig schedule, and then you all can choose what night you want passes to."

Odd wrapped his friend in a tight hug, lifting her off the ground in his enthusiasm. "Aelita, you're the best!" he crowed, doing a quick spin for emphases. He set her down with a grin before bouncing out of the room. "I have to go to class. You're still the best!"

She laughed at his antics before settling down at her computer. She had always wished Odd could be at her gigs. Somehow she knew that seeing his smiling face out in the crowd would boost her confidence while performing. Of course, that was normal to think of any friend. And it's not like she wouldn't be happy to see Jeremy in the crowd as well - though she knew Jeremy would never be interested in seeing her perform. It was a good thing she had Odd, she reflected with a grin.

Across campus, Jeremy snuck a peek at his phone, hoping that the teacher of his organic chemistry class wouldn't notice. He could almost hear Aelita's voice in his head, speaking the words of her message. This was probably about his plan to speak to the professor, he thought mournfully. She was probably still mad, and probably still being over dramatic. He pushed his phone back in his bag and jotted a quick note on the side of his notes reading "Aelita's room after lunch."

Candace elbowed Jeremy softly, leaning over to whisper, "Hot date, Einstein?" in his ear, pointing at his note.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Pay attention," he chastised his friend, returning to taking quick shorthand notes.

It was much harder than expected for Yumi to communicate with William that day. They only had Italian class together this year, and she couldn't pass a message along through his girlfriend Emily without fear of gossip or jealousy. So, she settled on a more brutish method. While the teacher wrote notes on the board, Yumi threw a ball of paper at William, landing the note perfectly on his desk. When classmates turned to stare at her, Yumi looked at her notebook in a vain attempt to seem casual. William glanced back at her, then waited for the class to lose interest in him before opening the paper. After reading, he turned back to give her a thumbs up sign.

At the end of class, William and Yumi retreated to a more secluded area of the hallway. In a low voice, William asked casually, "So, what's up? Your note said we should talk after class."

Yumi nodded. "Look, I'll make this quick. Jeremy has been developing this project about digital worlds using our years on Lyoko as the basis for his research. He doesn't see the danger in releasing that sort of information. But you know how it is, you let someone see a sliver of the truth and they'll dig until they go all the way through the rabbit hole. That means Aelita's false documentation, our major legal mess ups, and more."

William's eyes widened. "That means my clone, and those months when I was trapped in the supercomputer."

"Exactly," Yumi said. She noticed Emily approaching from the end of the hall, and waved to her. "Look," she said quickly. "We're meeting in Aelita's room after lunch to do a vote on this. Will you be there?"

"I will," William said. He slipped an arm around Emily's shoulders. "Well thanks for the notes Yumi, see you later!"

"Bye!" Yumi said cheerfully, giving a little wave. As the couple turned to walk away, the smile dropped from Yumi's face. She shouldered her bag and headed to her next class, shivering slightly in the brisk autumn air, leaves crunching under her feet. The scene with Jeremy wasn't going to be pretty, but it was necessary. She had often put on the role of guardian in the group, and she was ready to fight to protect them.

Aelita stared at her desk with a blank expression. Next to her, Odd split his attention between looking at his friend with confusion and giving the teacher a look of utter concentration.

"Skal du åbne dine bøger og tage noter på side halvfjerds," the teacher said in Danish, writing the phrase on the board. He sat at his desk and began grading the quiz they had taken minutes before. The students grumbled as they opened their books, to which the teacher called "Stulle, studerende!" from his desk.

Aelita looked around the room with a blank expression. "What did he say?" She whispered to Odd.

"He said to read page seventy and take notes on it," Odd said. He was better in foreign language than most other subjects, but it was surprising to see Aelita so out of it. As Aelita began to read, Odd scribbled a note onto her page. She turned to look at it, then turned to him with a gentle smile.

"It'll be ok," she wrote back. "Jeremy might be upset, but we will get through it."

Odd nodded, turning back to his book. He wasn't sure why Aelita had signed up for this class - he had family in Amsterdam and thought it might be a good destination for university, but she had no connection to the area. He didn't mind, of course. Their study sessions were always fun.

At the end of class, the two shared a look before heading to the cafeteria. "Let's get something to go," Aelita suggested. "I don't want to risk running into Jeremy here."

Odd nodded, and they picked up some sandwiches wrapped in foil from the cooks.

Aelita fumbled a bit with the keys to her dorm room, and Odd noticed her hands were shaking. "Here," he said quietly, guiding the key into the lock. She glanced at him with a small smile, nervousness obvious in her eyes. Once inside, she hung her bag over the back of her desk chair, which Odd sat in shortly.

"Should I clean?" she asked absentmindedly, picking up a jacket from the floor. Odd shrugged. She smoothed her bed, and pushed her hamper back. "There's not enough room for everyone," she said, moving knick knacks from the window sill. She sat cross legged on the bed, and Odd noticed her hands had started shaking again.

"Hey," he said, moving quickly to sit beside her on the bed. "It'll be ok." He placed a hand on hers to settle the shaking fingers, and she took a breath.

Aelita leaned her head on Odd's shoulder with a sigh. "What if he hates me?" she said quietly.

"Jeremy's a big boy," Odd said as he put his arm around his friend. "He has to be able to handle criticism. And he loves you too much to stay mad at you."

Aelita smiled. "Hopefully," she said, her voice barely audible.

A sharp knock at the door startled the pair. Aelita stood and opened the door to let Yumi and Ulrich inside. Yumi leaned against the wall with a cool look, staring out the window intensely, while Ulrich settled in the desk chair with a large cup of coffee.

"William is outside," Yumi said. "He'll be up shortly. I don't see Jeremy yet."

Odd nodded sternly. "Everyone clear on the plan?"

"We talk to Jeremy," Ulrich said, his voice sounding like footsteps on gravel. "Make him see reason."

Aelita stared at Ulrich. "I'm not sure what's worse, how you look or how you sound."

"It's just a sore throat," Ulrich said. "I slept with my mouth open last night, I'm kinda hoarse."

"As long as you can vote!" Odd laughed, patting his friend on the back. Another knock sounded, and Aelita opened the door to admit William.

"Hey," the tall boy said a bit awkwardly, standing in the middle of the room.

Ulrich nodded at William. "It's been a while," he commented.

"Too long!" Odd cried excitedly. "The Lyoko Warriors, back together!"

William smiled. "I wish it were under better circumstances." He pulled his leather jacket around his torso tightly, perching casually on the side of the desk. "When is Jeremy getting here?"

"I see him outside," Yumi said. "I'd say we have less than a minute."

Aelita nodded, smoothing her skirt nervously. "Remember, we need to make sure he doesn't feel attacked. We're just making our position clear."

Ulrich spoke up. "We all have our reasons for not wanting the truth to come out. It's time to put it out in the open."

The group was silent. Yumi leaned back against the wall, staring at the floor with an intense glare. Ulrich sat hunched over in the desk chair, the coffee clutched in his hands. William gazed out the window with a small smile, watching his girlfriend greet her friends in the courtyard below. Aelita sat on the bed staring at her lap, silently counting the seconds till Jeremy arrived. Odd stood behind the door against the wardrobe, poised tensely. Finally, there came a knock.

"Aelita?" Jeremy called. "You there?"

Aelita cleared her throat. "Come in," she called quietly. Jeremy opened the door, smiling softly at the sight of his girlfriend. He stepped inside and caught sight of Yumi, William, and Ulrich.

"What's going on?" he asked nervously, brow furrowing. The door shut behind him, and Jeremy turned to see Odd's grinning face.

"A bit of an intervention, Einstein."

* * *

 **Next time, we see what Jeremy thinks of this intervention. Leave reviews!**


	8. To Save Our Souls

**I know, need to update faster. In my defense, the holidays were busy. We're about to get a lot more angsty so prepare for teenage hormone madness. Enjoy!**

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"An intervention?" Jeremy asked dumbly. "For what?"

"We're intervening before you do something stupid," Yumi said bluntly, looking at her friend sharply.

Jeremy rubbed his temples. "What is this about?" He turned to Aelita for answers, who stared back at him nervously.

"I told them." She spoke quietly but firmly. "I told them about your project, and your plan to release the Lyoko records and more."

"That can't happen," Yumi said harshly. "Do you not realize what would happen?"

Jeremy crossed his arms stubbornly. "Look, I'm not going to reveal everything. I'd keep your names out of it."

"But that's the thing," Ulrich said. "Our names would come into it eventually. We've had people find about Lyoko before, and we've seen how easy it is to connect the puzzle pieces."

"Think about it, Einstein." Odd began listing points on his fingers. "First they find out about Lyoko. Then they discover it happened when we were in middle school. Then they make the connections between Lyoko and our constant disappearances and strange behavior. And as soon as they figure out that we were the test subjects, we are royally screwed."

Jeremy's frown deepened into a scowl. "Well, first off - you're not listed as test subjects. You're listed as my friends. And if you were my friends, you wouldn't be stopping me from confronting that scum of a professor."

"Hold up," William held up a hand. "I only got the shorthand of this situation. What's this about a professor?"

Jeremy turned to Aelita. "Why is he here?" he said, gesturing to William.

Ulrich glared. "He was a Lyoko warrior, same as the rest of us. And he has just as much to lose, if not more, if you reveal Lyoko."

With a sigh of resignation, Jeremy turned back to William. "I've been developing a program on virtual worlds and the physics of computer worlds, with a side focus in how DNA translates into computer code. I showed my work to a professor from Oxford a couple months ago, he called me crazy. Then I discovered he had started working on that exact same project - he's stealing my idea, my project."

William nodded. "Ok, I can understand that."

Yumi blinked. "Wait, what? You agree with him?"

"Not exactly." William walked to where Jeremy was. "It's like this - he's defensive of his work, that's natural enough. But to have your work stolen, that's just insulting. I can understand where his drive is coming from."

"So can I," Aelita said. "But that doesn't mean I support him."

"Aelita!" Jeremy's hurt expression burned into her. "Of all people..."

"It's too dangerous," Yumi said firmly. "We can't risk the truth coming out, especially not for Aelita."

"The documents I forged are perfect," Jeremy argued. "There's no way they would find out..."

"What, that I'm a fake?" Aelita asked. "We all know it's the truth. Just say it."

Odd interjected, "Aelita, you're not a fake. I think we would notice if you were replaced by a robot." Aelita smiled softly at her friend.

"There you go with the humor," Jeremy said with an eye roll. "Are you even mad, Odd? Or are you just here for the laughs?"

Odd frowned. "Hey, just trying to lighten the mood."

Jeremy growled, "Why can't you all just understand," as he ran a hand through his hair.

"We wanted to take a vote," Yumi said, trying to make her tone gentle. "How about we each say our reasons for how we're voting?" The others nodded. "Okay," she said. "I vote against Jeremy revealing Lyoko. My relationship with my parents would be destroyed, I have too many lies piled up. We did a lot of illegal things in the process of saving the world, and I can't have a criminal record while applying to college."

She turned to William, who cleared his throat, settling back onto the window sill. "I've only fought on Lyoko once - by my own free will, at least. My parents still ask me about those months when you had me replaced with a clone, they can't discover the truth. I was taken over by a computer virus, I don't want to be taken into a lab to be tested for super powers."

He took a breath. "I still have nightmares about being under Xana's control," he admitted quietly. "Being able to see everything that was happening, and knowing I could do nothing to stop myself from hurting you...it's horrible. His voice was always in my head, I never slept. I didn't have any human contact for months except for fighting you guys. I missed you terribly, and wanted to scream for help all the time, but couldn't. And I don't want the world to ever know about that time, about what happened for me. I survived Xana. That should be enough."

The room was silent. Finally, Ulrich cleared his throat to speak. "I vote against Lyoko being revealed. We saved the world, but we broke the law repeatedly. My dad is a high profile businessman, and I'm in the public eye more and more as I get older. If he found out that the reason I almost failed middle school was because I was fighting in a virtual world...well he'd probably have me put in a mental hospital. We can't let the truth come out."

Odd spoke quickly after Ulrich turned to him. "We broke the law every day for years. We endured horrific scenarios. I've watched all of you die before my eyes, and I've escaped death more times than I'd like to admit. I felt what it's like to drown, and now I can't go swimming. I watched you get electrocuted, Jeremy, and now I get nervous whenever my Dad works on wiring for the house. Lyoko was fun at times, but we need to leave it in the past."

Aelita spoke last. "I was trapped in limbo for a decade," she said in almost a whisper. "I've lost everything to that horrible computer, everything except you all. Every time I show my ID I worry that it will all come crashing down, that someone will realize my whole identity is a fake. We fought Xana for years...I lost my father to that horrible computer. And who knows where my mom is, if she's even alive. If Lyoko comes out, so do I. I'd probably end up in jail, or a mental institution, or worse, a government experiment of some sort."

"But we won't let that happen," Odd interjected. "We will always protect you, princess. You know that." She nodded, and the room fell into silence.

Finally, Jeremy spoke, staring at the ground. "So that's how it is?"

"Yes," Yumi said. "All opposed to Lyoko being revealed?" All but Jeremy raised their hands. "Then it's settled."

"I can't believe this," Jeremy growled, turning to leave.

Aelita grabbed his arm. "Jeremy!" Her voice was desperate, her eyes pleading, but he refused to look at any of them.

He shook free of her. "Leave me alone, all of you." Jeremy stalked out of the dorm room, slamming the door behind him. The room was quiet, Aelita's sniffling the only sound.

"It'll be ok," Yumi said, putting a hand on Aelita's shoulder. "He just needs time to cool off."

Aelita shook her head. "We made him feel attacked. That was the one thing I didn't want to have happen."

"Look," William said. "I know we all don't hang out much, but I also know Jeremy is a rational guy. Give him some time, he'll see that we were right."

Ulrich's watch beeped, and he stood quickly, draining the rest of his coffee in one gulp. "I've got class," he said. He paused to give Aelita a hug and Yumi a kiss before leaving. "I'll see you guys later."

"I have to go meet Sam," Odd said apologetically.

Aelita nodded. "No, it's ok. How's the movie going?"

He grinned. "It's actually going really well. We got a lot done this last week, and we're going to spend the rest of today working. After today, I'll just need to edit the footage."

"That's actually pretty impressive," Yumi commented.

William spoke up. "You're making a movie?"

Odd nodded. "Yup. It's actually going to be screened in the school's auditorium in a couple weeks."

"That's really cool, Odd." William checked his watch. "I gotta go though. It was good seeing you guys again. Tell me how things go with Jeremy, yeah?" After he had left, Odd followed, giving Aleita a quick hug. Yumi sat on the bed with Aelita.

"It'll be ok," Yumi said, hugging her friend.

Aelita groaned, flopping back on her bed. "He's pissed," she said bluntly.

Yumi rolled her eyes. "Jeremy will get over it. I'd bet twenty bucks that you too will be back to normal within a week."

"This project is really important to him," Aelita whispered. "He's spent months developing it."

Yumi paused. "I know. But we did what we had to. Sometimes, you have to be able to stand up to the ones you love."

Aelita nodded. "Have you ever had to stand up to Ulrich?"

"If anything, he's had to stand up to me," Yumi laughed. "Remember when I first tried taking things further with him? He actually pushed me away and forced me to stop."

"That whole thing sounds so awkward," Aelita said with a cringe. "I can't even imagine going that far with Jeremy, especially with all the issues we've been having the last few months."

Yumi shrugged. "There's no deadline for you two. I'll be leaving at the end of the year, and I don't want to leave without going all the way with Ulrich."

Aelita laughed suddenly. "Remember when I had to explain sex to you?"

"Oh my god," Yumi's cheeks burned. "Don't remind me."

"Hey, I didn't mind," Aelita said with a giggle. "It was just a funny situation." Yumi's parents had refused to allow their daughter to partake in the Sex Ed seminar that the rest of her grade had taken a couple years prior. Her mother had explained things briefly by saying that sex was something that would happen when Yumi got married and that she had nothing to worry about till her wedding night. But when Aelita and her other younger friends took the seminar the next year, she had asked Aelita to tell her what went on, and got more than she expected.

"Stupid protective parents," Yumi joked. "They mean well."

Aelita's eyes widened suddenly. "What would happen if they knew about how far you and Ulrich had gone?"

Yumi shook her head. "It would be bad. We would be forced to break up, I'd be grounded till college...they are strong believers in no sex until marriage, and they see birth control as something for sluts."

"That sucks," Aelita said.

"The thing is," Yumi said seriously. "Your parents shouldn't decide what you do with your own body. They often have good intentions, but in the end it's your decision. That's how I see it with Ulrich. If I want to, I will, and if we do, we will be safe."

"Good," Aelita said with a nod. "What's his attitude on all of this?"

Yumi shrugged helplessly. "It's mostly been me initiating new things. He hasn't complained, and I've been mindful to ask him about stuff before doing it. It's...it's looking like it's going to happen soon."

Aelita raised her eyebrows. "How soon?"

"Depends on how much privacy we get," Yumi joked. "I'd rather not have Odd be the second guy to see my tits."

Across campus, Jeremy sat in Ms. Gutierrez's classroom, staring at his laptop screen blankly. No one was with him, the lights were still turned off. He cursed, and slammed his laptop shut.

"Screw them," he muttered. "Screw them all." He was supposed to have class in this room in ten minutes, but at the moment he just wanted to scream and cry. So, he left. On his way to the dorms, he passed Candice and Liza.

"Hey Jeremy," Liza called. "Ready for class?"

He ignored them, quickening his pace as he felt teardrops beginning to gather on his lashes. The girls stared after him in surprise before going to class, muttering about Jeremy's snub. Once in his room, Jeremy dropped his bag and kicked the door shut. Nervous energy erupted in him, and Jeremy glared at the files of research he had left on his table.

"Fuck!" he screamed as he threw the files into the air, catching random papers and ripping them, stomping the crushed remains into the dirt of his floor. The lamp was knocked over, and Jeremy felt the hot bulb burn his hand. Feeling tears beginning to flow down his face, Jeremy opened his dresser and threw the clothes onto the floor, digging through the piles of sweaters till he reached the binders he had hidden. With a growl, Jeremy ripped all the papers out of the binder in one swipe. Finally, looking around his ruined room, the months of research gone to waste, Jeremy sunk to the floor, curling up in a ball. He cried bitterly, phlegm gathering in his throat as he continually wiped his nose, tears wetting the sleeve of his sweater.

"Fuck them," he whispered as the tears slowly ended. "Fuck them all."

* * *

 **Such angst. Leave reviews!**


	9. Love Sucks

**Ninth chapter! This should be fun. Enjoy!**

* * *

Odd hummed quietly to himself, his headphones blaring. A tap on his shoulder startled him, and he jumped. "Woah," he cried, catching the table before he fell. He turned to see his girlfriend's smiling face.

"Hey," Sam said with a smile. She kissed his cheek before loosely wrapping her arms around his shoulders, peering at his computer screen. "How's it going?"

"Surprisingly well," Odd said, turning his music down. "I've cut out all the unnecessary footage - stuff like when I was testing the sound, or when we got interrupted. I'm getting good ideas. The footage of you at that skate competition last week is unbelievable."

Sam blushed. "Flatterer."

Odd grinned, leaning back to kiss her. "What can I say, you inspire me." They kissed deeper, and Sam moved to perch herself on his lap. The sound of the door being opened made them pause and move away, not knowing if it was a teacher behind that door. Ulrich stumbled into the room, dropping his bag and hanging up his jacket without giving the young couple a glance. It was only when he took off his shirt that Odd decided to make their presence known.

"Ahem," Odd said delicately. Ulrich looked up, startled.

"When did you guys get here?" he asked dumbly.

Odd laughed shakily. "We've been here...I'm guessing you need to sleep?"

Ulrich shook his head. "Nah. I have football in a bit, I just need to get changed for practice."

Sam stood. "I'll get out of here, give you your privacy." As she passed Ulrich, Sam turned back with a flirtatious grin. "Oh, and nice hickeys." She giggled as she closed the door, and Ulrich blushed.

"It's not like that..." he muttered.

Odd nodded sarcastically. "So you were attacked by a raccoon then?" he said, gesturing to the bite marks on Ulrich's shoulders and chest. Ulrich sighed, then turned his back to Odd, earning himself a wolf whistle. His back had scratches on it that obviously came from a girl's fingernails.

"Don't laugh," Ulrich sighed. "I'm not sure she's aware of how much she scratches and bites."

"I'm guessing you don't mind," Odd said mischievously.

Ulrich shrugged, blushing again. "Shut up."

"Really though," Odd said sternly. "We have to figure something out."

"What are you talking about?" Ulrich asked tiredly as he threw an extra water bottle into his gym bag.

Odd stood with a dramatic sigh. "I always knew this day would come. When we first became roommates all those years ago, I knew that a day would come when we would need a signal...a signal for sex."

Ulrich stared at his friend wide eyed. "Odd. What are you talking about. Speak clearly please, I'm running on three hours of sleep."

"Ulrich, we both have girlfriends. Sam and I can go to her house to do our naughty business, but you and Yumi have quite obviously taken to using this room as your love nest. Yes, I noticed. Having her over every time I'm out for the evening? Not very subtle."

Ulrich blushed. "Ok, so what's your point?"

"We need a signal!" Odd said. "Look, I'm going to be around a lot these next couple weeks working on the video, but if you want me out of the room for a couple hours, just say so. I'm not saying to text me the details, cuz I have no interest in hearing about Yumi's tits, but if you signal when you two are coming back from a date or something, I can hang in the library."

"How about a heart?" Ulrich said, pulling his uniform on. "If we're coming back here, I'll send a little heart symbol, then another heart when the coast is clear."

"Very good," Odd said proudly. "Now get out, I have work to do." He turned back to his computer, headphones in place and blaring. Ulrich chuckled to himself and left, taking care to lock the door behind him.

On the way to the field, Ulrich spotted a dark figure crossing over the lawn wearing wrinkled khakis and a hoodie. People gave the figure glances, but no one called to him. He dropped his book, and Ulrich caught a glimpse of his face. "Jeremy?" Ulrich whispered to himself. He jogged over quickly. "Hey, how are you?" he asked politely.

Jeremy stared back at Ulrich with empty eyes. The stare lasted uncomfortably long.

"Are you ok?" Ulrich asked, scratching the back of his neck. "You, uh, you look tired."

Jeremy pushed past his friend, walking away quickly. Ulrich shook his head and hurried off to practice. If Jeremy wanted to sulk, that was fine. Besides, Aelita would be able to get through to him.

In her dorm room, Aelita threw her cell phone down on the bed in frustration. She had texted Jeremy multiple times since the big blowup, but for two weeks he had been blatantly ignoring her. His senior friend, Candace, had approached her a couple days ago asking if Jeremy was alright...Aelita had no answer for the girl. She hadn't seen Jeremy around campus at all, though Candace said he had been in class, still getting consistent top marks, but not talking much.

"He always looks tired," the girl had said. "And he's dressing really differently. I haven't known him for as long as you have...but he still seems weird."

"I'll talk to him," Aelita had said with a reassuring smile. "He's probably just stressed." It had been a lie, of course. Aelita knew the truth, everyone in the group did. Feeling restless, Aelita decided to go see what Odd was up to. He had asked her to help him with background music for his movie, and she had a couple tunes ready to go.

"Odd?" she called, knocking on his door. Hearing music from inside, Aelita sent her friend a text. The door was opened shortly afterwards to reveal a bashful boy.

"Sorry," Odd said. "I guess it's kinda impractical to have headphones on when people could be coming by."

"It's cool." Aelita began pulling CDs out of their cases, labels neatly posted on each disc. "How's the movie going?"

"It's good," Odd said. "I need some good action music for skating scenes, and a good neutral song to play quietly. Blank background noise just feels way too serious for my taste." Aelita nodded as Odd began inserting CDs and listening to them, pressing one headphone to his ear. "I like this one for the action scenes," he said. "It's smooth, but has good beats."

"This is a good neutral one," Aelita slid a CD towards Odd. His fingers brushed hers as he took the disk from her. Odd slid the disk into the computer and smiled as the song hit his ears.

"Ooh," he said. "It's kinda...tantric? Is that the word? I don't know, something about the beats is kinda sexy, but it's subtle." Odd pressed a couple buttons, and a clip of Sam speaking to the camera played over the music.

"School sucked," she said bluntly, staring at the camera with a pouty expression. "It's better where I am now, less drugs and partying goes on here." The song played in the background, a slow electronic tune twisting around deep bass drum beats with the occasional whistle.

Aelita smiled. "Like it?"

"It's perfect," Odd said. "You should use this for your demo. Add some lyrics, it would make a great music video."

Aelita rolled her eyes. "Let's focus on just getting a demo together for the producers," she said. "I have stuff written, just gotta get to the recording. That'll be this weekend, Adam is taking me all the way to Amsterdam to record."

"Hold up," Odd paused the footage he had been editing. "This weekend? When do you leave?"

"Friday night," Aelita said. "What's the problem? The showing isn't till next weekend."

"No," Odd said with defeat, slumping into his chair. "The event got moved up a week, it's being shown Saturday night."

"Odd, I'm so sorry," Aelita said. "I could reschedule..."

Odd shook his head. "No. Go to Amsterdam, record your demo, meet with producers. Your career comes first."

"Are you sure?" Aelita asked, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure," Odd said firmly. "I have to get back to editing though, this deadline is intense." Aelita nodded, collected her CDs, and left. Walking down the boys dormitory hall, Aelita rearranged her bag of CDs, not noticing the person approaching from the opposite side till they bumped into each other.

"Sorry!" she cried as the person was pushed against the wall. "Are you ok? I wasn't paying attention, sorry!"

Jeremy peered out from under a hood at her. "It's fine," he muttered, beginning to walk away.

"Wait," Aelita grabbed his wrist. "Jeremy I haven't seen you in two weeks...I keep texting you...we're worried."

He wrenched his arm away, throwing her off balance. "Leave me alone, Aelita," he grumbled.

"Jeremy, your friends are worried!"

"Shut up!" he yelled. "If you were really so worried, you would have helped me instead of ganging up how you did!"

"I'm sorry," Aelita said desperately, emphasizing her words. "We did what was best...you have to see the big picture."

"Oh, I see it." Jeremy scowled. "Let me guess, you just came from Odd's room?"

Aelita blinked rapidly. "What does that have to do with anything?"

He scoffed. "Of course." Jeremy pushed away from Aelita, taking his hands out of his pockets to open his door.

"Dammit Jeremy, listen to me!" Aelita ran after him, pushing his door so he wouldn't close it. The sight inside made her falter, and he slammed the door in her face.

Hours later, Yumi pulled her friend in for a tight hug. "You did your best," Yumi said consolingly.

"You should have seen him," Aelita sniffled. "He's so different."

"Ulrich said he saw Jeremy today," Yumi said. "Apparently he had a big black hoodie on and glared at anyone who looked at him."

Aelita nodded. "Yup, that's Jeremy. The new Jeremy at least. He was so angry, Yumi. And his room...it's just a mess."

"It'll be ok," Yumi said, resting her head on Aelita's. "He just needs time."

"Hopefully," Aelita said softly. "But something tells me it might be too late."

She didn't see Jeremy for the rest of the week, and neither did Yumi. Candace reported that Jeremy was still going to class, but talking less and less. Teachers noticed, and asked Aelita and the others if they knew anything, to which they had to say no. As the weekend drew close, Aelita packed her bags in a somber mood, sealing her disks and notebook in a special compartment. Her clothes were packed - outfits for the night gigs she was doing Saturday and Friday, a comfy outfit for traveling, a professional look for meeting with the producers, and another set of clothes for working in the studio. As soon as her afternoon classes were done, Aelita signed out at the office and met Adam at the front gate.

"Ready to go?" He asked, opening the trunk for her to put her bag in. Aelita nodded, and he looked over her outfit. "Looks good. Remember, you did a lot of shows in Amsterdam this summer. A lot of people will recognize you, want to take pictures of you...you're going to be in the public eye all weekend."

"I got it," Aelita said. She wore red and black patterned leggings, a graphic white tank top, combat boots, and a long necklace. Every moment of this trip was carefully calculated. Adam was a tough manger, but a good one. And he did care.

That night, everyone was on the way to the auditorium. Ulrich and Yumi found seats in the front row next to Odd's parents, who already had the camcorder out, ready to record every moment of their precious baby boy's introductory speech. Ulrich sipped a coffee, and Yumi raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're drinking coffee at eight o'clock at night?" She whispered.

He shrugged desperately. "I don't want to fall asleep during Odd's movie - besides, I have homework to do after this."

"It's Friday!" Yumi shook her head. "I swear, this class schedule of yours is ridiculous."

"You have no idea," Ulrich muttered. She was about to respond, but Sam arrived. Odd's parents gushed about how excited they were to meet her, leaning across Ulrich and Yumi to shake Sam's hands gleefully.

"Um," Ulrich said as Odd's parents spoke loudly to Sam. "Guys. Mr. and Mrs. Dellarobbia?"

Finally, Odd walked to the podium, making his parents calm enough to focus the camcorder. He took a breath at the podium, looking out over the sea of students and faculty. It was nerve wracking, presenting a creative work of his to such a large crowd. Sam was nervous too, he was putting her life on display for all. Odd adjusted his tie, then pulled at the blazer he wore. It was now or never.

"Thank you," he said, his voice echoing out over the the crowd. "Thank you for being here, and for making this event all the more special. I wanted to show the world a very special person who often hides how special she is...her story is amazing, and I hope you find her as inspirational as I do." Odd stepped away from the podium and moved to sit next to his friends in the audience, nodding for the movie to start.

A rough image of Sam sitting on the edge of a half pipe came to the screen, the sun setting as she spun the wheels of her skateboard absentmindedly, her ripped jeans exposing the scratches and bruises on her legs. She looked up at the camera and called "Are we starting now?" as she squinted in the sunlight. The scene shifted to her skating, cutting quickly from one clip to another, showing Sam in a variety of environments. Aelita's music began in the background as Sam spoke to the camera, outlining her relationship with her parents, the cheating, and the fierce custody battle when she was eleven.

"It was nasty," she said, staring deeply into the camera, her voice bitter. "They almost came to blows in the courtroom...three times I think. I didn't want to be with mom, but they both seemed crazy to me at the time. All they had been doing for years was fighting to control the situation while cheating. They didn't even bother hiding it - I remember coming home from school one day when I was eight, and seeing this random guy in the kitchen. He wasn't very attractive, I don't know what mom saw in him. When dad got home a few hours later, I told him what happened. He just told me not to worry about that. I guess for some people, it's better to play pretend instead of risk chaos. Didn't do much in the end though."

The audience was silent, gripped by the plot of Odd's film as he walked the viewers through Sam's life. They laughed at some moments, and Yumi found herself wiping away a tear when Sam discussed the nasty bullying that went on at her old school.

"They didn't call me names," Sam said. "They just didn't talk to me. No one would, no matter what. If I tried to talk to anyone, they would hurt me. There was one time, I got invited to this girl's party...she was really popular, and seemed nice when she invited me. I was naive at the time. I went, and everyone was really nice, kept getting me snacks and drinks, saying I was cool...then I passed out. When I woke up, they had tied me up and written all over me in sharpie. My shirt was off...my shorts were unbuttoned. Some kids took video of it and posted it online. My dad wanted to get the police involved but I just wanted to leave."

Sam shrunk in her chair a bit, feeling eyes on her. The footage cut to her working out as a voiceover of her speaking described how she worked to get stronger, which helped her feel stronger and get over the incident. The Sam on the screen shone with sweat as she did pull-ups, glaring fiercely with concentration, while the Sam in the audience felt a cold sweat begin. Yumi patted her on the shoulder, and Sam jumped.

"It's a really good movie," Yumi said with a smile, her eyes glued to the screen. Sam nodded, continuing to watch. Odd was sitting next to his parents a few seats away, but he was continually looking around to gage the audience's reactions. They were glued to the movie. He could see Sissi, a few rows back, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. If he had gotten to her with his film, then he concluded that he must have done a good job. The film ended with a voiceover of Sam speaking as action music played with creative shots of her skating and doing tricks in competitions, standing with winning medals, and grinning at the fans around her. As the credits began to roll, Odd walked up to the podium as the auditorium erupted into thunderous applause. The movie was set to end automatically, and the credits were fairly short so his speech would begin as soon as he got onstage. But something went wrong.

Voices came from the stereo, and Odd spun to see a horrible image on the screen. Sam was dancing in his dorm room wearing denim shorts and a lacy bra. The camera moved as though being set on a table, cutting the image down so Sam could only be seen from the shoulders down. Odd's figure could be seen joining her with his shirt off, wearing only jeans and boxers. His hands grabbed her hips to pull her to him as they embraced. It wasn't till Odd had squeezed Sam's ass, making her giggle, that the flustered tech kids managed to turn the video off, leaving it paused on the image of Sam sticking her hand down his pants.

The whole auditorium was silent, everyone staring at Odd's frozen blushing figure standing in the middle of the stage.

"Odd!" The principal raged as he stormed towards the stage. "What the Hell is this? A joke?!"

Odd shook violently with fright. "Sir I swear, this was a mistake, I promise!"

"In your dorm room!"

"Please, don't do this..."

"You are suspended! Expelled! Deported!"

"Sir, I'm so sorry, this was a mistake."

Odd's parents stood quickly. "Sir," Odd's father said firmly, putting a hand on the principal's shoulder. "Why don't we discuss this outside?" The principal nodded, and the group walked outside. Odd looked back desperately at Sam, who was curled up in her chair shaking. Yumi and Ulrich caught Odd's fearful look, still in shock about what they had seen.

"What a slut!" a voice yelled from the back. More voices joined in, and Sam pulled the hood of her jacket up over her head

"Always knew she was like that," one person said.

Sissi's voice rose above the others. "Samantha the Skank! It works perfectly! That's what we'll call her from now on!"

Ulrich stood suddenly, dropping his coffee on the ground. Yumi held his arm tightly to prevent him from charging into the crowd, pulling him to focus on the present issue - Sam's distress.

The whole movie had focused on her working to be strong, overcoming issues to get where she was today. But the girl before them was crying. She was crying, and shaking, and burying her face in her knees, curled into a ball in her chair. Ulrich and Yumi put their arms around her, walking their friend past the still image of her half naked figure, the crowd's jeers following them.

* * *

 **Eek don't kill me! Or Odd, for that matter. Leave reviews!**


	10. New Beginnings

**Let self check in with Aelita, shall we? Enjoy!**

* * *

Aelita slept through the entire five hour drive to Amsterdam. She woke when Adam gently shook her to announce their arrival into the city.

"Wake up," he said, his eyes focused on the road as he shook her arm. "We're in the city." Aelita rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before taking a look at the city around them. The sun was setting, a brilliant background against the canals they drove by.

"There aren't many cars on the road," Aelita commented, craning her neck to see the quaint townhouses they were passing.

Adam nodded. "A lot of people in Amsterdam use bikes to get around, or just walk. We'll stash the car in a garage soon."

"Cool," Aelita said. She flipped the mirror down and began cleaning her face, wiping away smudged eyeliner and combing her hair with her fingers. "When's the gig?"

"Ten o'clock," Adam said. "You have an hour to get ready."

Aelita groaned. They reached the hotel shortly. Adam had booked two single rooms for them with an interconnecting door, and Aelita began setting up the same system she had used over the summer. She took her outfits out, hanging them on the rack in the closet so they wouldn't smell too musty. Her gig bag sat by the door, filled with snacks, a water bottle, and her favorite mixing CDs. She quickly did her makeup and hair, tying it up into an elaborate braid.

Adam knocked on her door. "We leave in fifteen," he called. "I'm heading downstairs, go to the lobby when you're done."

Aelita began scrubbing her teeth with a toothbrush. "Okay!"

She quickly pulled on her gig outfit, ripped white jeans with a long Tshirt, putting in oversized earrings while slipping her feet into a pair of boots. Aelita checked her phone for calls - nothing except a text from Odd wishing her good luck. She smiled and typed a reply to him before shouldering her bag and jogging to the elevator. It was tiring, being on such a rushed schedule. But as soon as she got to the club, her fatigue disappeared.

"Hello, Bitterzoet!" she called from the microphone, grinning confidently at the crowd. A beat was already started, and Aelita tuned a harmony flawlessly while still smiling to the crowd. "Let's have some fun!" A traditional house tune hit the crowd with a deep bass. Aelita selected a disk from her bag, a hip hop tune she had composed, and slid it into the machine. Lyrics had not been added yet, but she liked the fast beat of the music. Aelita swayed her hips to the tune, pressing a pair of headphones to her ear as the crowd danced. The night continued in this fashion until another DJ took over at one am.

Adam texted Aelita that he would pick her up in twenty minutes, so she headed to the bar to sit down for a while. "Just a soda," she said to the bartender, who nodded before going to fetch a can from the back. As Aelita surveyed the crowd, she caught the eyes of a girl who was staring at her shyly. Aelita waved to the girl, who scuttled over quickly.

"You're Aelita, right?" The girl was very red faced, and appeared to be about Aelita's age. Knowing the low drinking age in Amsterdam, Aelita wasn't surprised to see a beer in the girl's hand.

Aelita nodded. "What's your name? I like your shirt." She had learned quickly how to make friends while on tour that summer.

The girl grinned. "Oh my god thank you! I'm a big fan, I saw you perform at all the local music festivals last summer, and I follow your YouTube page and your blog!"

Aelita raised her eyebrows. "Wow! Well, thank you for the support."

"When are you coming out with an album? The music world needs more female DJs!"

"Well," Aelita said, beckoning the girl closer. "Off the record...there might be a little project going on of that nature."

The girl gasped. "Oh my god my friends and I would all buy your album! When is it coming out? Who's producing it? Will it be available on iTunes?"

Aelita paused. "Do you want to take a selfie?" That line always worked. The girl's face lit up as she nodded frantically. They took a picture on Aelita's phone, then the girl's, who gushed more before Adam came to collect his charge.

"Thank you," Adam said to the girl, putting a hand on Aelita's shoulder. "But I'm afraid we need to be going, Aelita has a busy day ahead of her."

Aelita gave the girl a warm hug. "It was so nice to meet you! I'll make sure to post the picture on my blog!"

Out on the street, Adam started to ask Aelita about the night, but was interrupted by a small crowd of teenagers.

"Oh my god, it's her!" a girl yelled, pointing at Aelita. "It's Aelita!" Aelita froze as the group ran towards her. Adam stepped in front of Aelita, holding a protective arm out in front of her.

"Woah there!" His booming voice halted the teenagers. "Take a step back!" The teenagers quieted and stepped back. Once they had calmed, Adam let Aelita greet the kids, smiling and shaking hands, taking selfies and answering their questions. She didn't get much attention in town, but when she went to cities she had played at often over the summer, this kind of unwarranted attention was surprisingly common.

"Where do you go to school?" one boy asked. "I want to transfer there!"

Aelita smiled broadly. "That's so sweet! My school is pretty far away from here though. I'll make sure to visit Amsterdam more!" The session ended with Adam taking a picture of Aelita and the fans in front of the Bitterzoet sign, promising that the photo would be up on the blog. By the time Aelita and Adam made it back to their hotel, it was past two am. She didn't bother changing into her pajamas that night, too content in the position she fell into on her bed, sleeping soundly until the alarm woke her at seven am the next day.

"Rise and shine," Adam called, knocking on the door as her alarm blared. Aelita stumbled into the bathroom, struggling to stay awake as she sat on the toilet. A glance in the mirror confirmed that she looked like a mess. Not having washed her makeup off last night left her with the deranged raccoon look, dark smears all over her sockets. After showering, Aelita scrubbed her face clean. Today would be spent at the recording studio, so she dressed in a long white sweater and black leggings, white boots laced up tightly. The makeup for the day was minimal, mainly just foundation to hide the zits that had popped up overnight. She and Adam stopped in a café for breakfast, where a young couple interrupted to ask Aelita to sign a poster from a festival she had played a few months prior.

"Looks like word has gotten out that you're in town," Adam said quietly after the couple left.

Aelita teased, "Should I start going around wearing dark sunglasses and a hoodie?"

He chuckled, turning his laptop towards her. "You attracted a lot of attention last night, you know. All seven of the people you met posted things online about meeting you. Your YouTube page gained forty subscribers, and the blog got a hundred hits just this morning."

"That's good," Aelita said. "Did you post the pictures yet?"

Adam nodded. "I retouched them just a bit to make your face clearer. Gotta keep that recognizable image, you know."

"You'd think the pink hair would be enough," Aelita said dryly, motioning to her head.

"Grab another muffin for the road," Adam said as he began packing up. "We're due at the studio in fifteen."

Chocolate muffins in hand, Aelita and Adam walked briskly to the recording studio, praying that they wouldn't get delayed like they did last night. As soon as they entered the lobby, a curvy woman with dreadlocks greeted them.

"Welcome!" She was cheerful and loud, and interesting contrast to the cold, industrial atmosphere of the building. "Come with me, we'll be on the fifth floor." She continued speaking once they reached the elevator. "I'm a sound engineer," she explained. "I know everything there is to know about this studio, and it's my job to help you record the best songs! You're Aelita, right? Great to meet you, I've seen some videos of you on YouTube! My name's Emma, by the way. And you must be Adam, manager extraordinaire!"

Adam smiled weakly. "Nice to meet you." Aelita gasped as the elevator doors opened to reveal a pristine studio space. Thick carpet gave the room a lavish look, with walls painted dark red and hardwood surfaces everywhere. Emma guided Aelita to a table where they sat to discuss the purpose of today.

"We want to create a demo album," Adam explained. "Just a few songs that we can then present to a number of producers tomorrow. I know them personally and they already love Aelita's work, but they want to see what kind of original work she can do."

"Do you sing the songs?" Emma asked, taking notes as they spoke.

Aelita shrugged. "I don't usually sing...we have five songs to put on this demo. I'll sing for three of them, and if the producers give the go ahead then I'm going to ask a friend of mine to join me because she's a better singer."

"Is she a professional singer?" Emma asked, then paused. "Doesn't matter. Don't worry about your voice, honey. That's what auto tune was created for. Let's get you in the studio, do some practice!"

They put her CDs into the machine and began mixing the tunes, Emma guiding Aelita through the soundboard and making suggestions to help with flow, emphasizing the importance of drama in electronic music. After a couple hours had gone by, it was time to begin singing.

Aelita stood nervously in the recording booth, the monstrously large microphone hanging in front of her face. The feeling of headphones over her ears was a comforting sensation, but still didn't help to calm her nerves.

"We're going to play music track 1," Adam said. "I think you called it Plugged In?"

Aelita nodded. "Ok, go ahead."

The tune began, and Aelita nodded her head to the beat. Her notebook of lyrics sat on a stand in front of her, the pages laid out for easy access. "Say goodbye to the real world," she sang. "Get ready for the plunge...it's time to say goodnight, it's time to say goodbye, it's time for you to die..." Out in the studio, Emma raised her eyebrows, obviously not expecting such a dark song. Aelita continued her singing, now tapping her foot to the beat. "It's a transformation of a generation, and it's time for a change. We're connected, we're protected...we're plugged in." The beat dropped, and Emma turned up the volume as Aelita sang the chant, "We're plugged in." Adam pulled out his phone and filmed a short clip of Aelita singing in the studio, zooming in on her face. The song continued, and Aelita slowly relaxed. After the singing portion of her studio time was finished, Aelita and Emma put the vocal soundtrack over the music soundtrack to experiment with blending effects.

"I like Plugged In a lot," Emma said honestly. "But the other songs with lyrics are kinda...weak. I know love songs are a staple in the industry, but don't feel like you have to rely on them."

Adam nodded. "What would you recommend we do, Emma? We're meeting with the producers tomorrow." Aelita bit her lip as she looked between the two professionals. She had known before coming here that her love songs were weak...to be fair, it was tough to write about love when you were going through relationship issues.

"I have some more lyrics," Aelita suggested. "Not full songs, just snippets. Would they be useful?"

Emma beckoned for Aelita to pass the notebook. Skimming the pages quickly, Emma hummed to herself. "You know," the woman said thoughtfully. "This stuff has about the same beat as Under the Stars, but the lyrics are way better."

Aelita grinned. "You think? It's not too intense?"

Adam put a hand on his charge's shoulder. "Aelita, never be afraid to be too much. If you're not pushing your boundaries, you're not doing it right."

Emma passed the notebook back to Aelita. "Let's get back to the soundboard and start adjusting the tunes, shall we?" Aelita nodded, tucking a lock of pink hair behind her ear. Soon she was back in the studio singing into the microphone, this time with much more confidence as the dark, sultry tune they had just composed played.

"Your touch," Aelita whispered. "Your caress, your kiss. Your kiss...it kills me." She began to rap, keeping her voice low as she tapped her foot to the beat. Outside the booth, Adam gave her a thumbs up. "Trapped in this high tower, it's like I'm Rapunzel. My hair got chopped off, now I'm a damsel. Fuck that, let's jump, I don't care, honestly - it's been a bit too much. Fuck off and die now, eh? You go do that and I'll be here dancing." Outside the booth, Emma couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. This girl was...very different from what she had expected. Aelita continued her rap. "Killer kiss like a punch in the lips, wake up bruised from when you embrace me. You think this is easy, what I do? Back off a bit, let me show you what I can do." The beat dropped, and a complex tune played filled with chaotic street sounds and electronic beeps as Aelita danced. A solid five seconds of silence filled the room, then the tune continued and Aelita jumped back to the microphone. "You think I don't see, what you do? It's time for a change, I say fuck you. This sickness inside refuses to die, let's punch it in the face like you punch me with your lips." The tune slowed, and Aelita began her sultry whispers again. After the song was over, she exited the booth with a broad grin, jumping in place from adrenaline.

"Damn!" Emma gave the young artist a hug. "That was amazing!"

Adam typed madly on his laptop. "Fan-fucking-tastic, Aelita. This is giving me ideas...we're going to blow those producers away tomorrow."

That night, Aelita and Adam went out to dinner with Emma, who told Aelita stories of how she got where she was.

"I went to Amsterdam School of the Arts," Emma explained through her mouthful of burger. "Great programs there, and it's pretty cheap."

Seeing that Aelita was busy wolfing down a bowl of stew, Adam decided it was up to him to continue the conversation. "Didn't you get your start in France?"

Emma nodded. "I love France, but after living here for a few years I couldn't imagine going anywhere else. It helped that I got a ton of job offers right after graduation."

Aelita finally paused in her eating. "Thanks for all your help today, you really changed things for the better."

"Hey, it was all based off your work," Emma said modestly. "You're a talented girl, Aelita. Honestly, it was just nice to see the inner Aelita get to come out and play a bit today."

After dinner, Aelita and Adam stopped by the hotel to prepare for the gig that night. She dressed in ripped skinny jeans and a crop top, wearing a black beanie on her head. The gig couldn't have gone smoother, except for the occasional person asking her for a selfie or a conversation while she was on her very short breaks. Aelita stopped mixing for one minute, setting a personal disk up on the board before sitting on the side of the stage to gulp down the contents of her water bottle.

"Oh my god is that her?" A girl was staring at Aelita from a few feet away.

"It can't be!" her friend whispered back.

Aelita squinted into the dark. "Hello," she waved with a curious smile. The girls walked over to her with startled expressions. Aelita raised her eyebrows. "Milly? Tamiya? What are you doing in Amsterdam?"

Milly stared at the ground. "Uh, visiting my grandma. She thinks we're sleeping."

"Please don't tell!" Tamiya pleaded with Aelita, grasping the older girl's hands.

Aelita laughed nervously. "Who would I tell? Honestly I'm just amazed you got in here since you're underage." The girls stared at the ground. Aelita sighed. "Fake IDs. Right. Look, just don't try to order anything alcoholic from the bartender and you'll be fine. Though I'd suggest you clear out before one am hits, by that time people start getting...frisky."

Milly and Tamiya nodded, thanking Aelita for being cool. Before they left, Aelita agreed to take a picture of them inside the club so they could prove to their friends that they really had gone to a nightclub. When Adam asked who they were, Aelita had carefully said they were girls she had met before. Either way, it didn't matter in the long run. The next day, Aelita woke up feeling very grateful that she had bothered to clean her makeup off the night before. Not looking like a deranged raccoon had its advantages, after all. After a quick shower, Aelita packed most of her outfits into her bag, dressing in black skinny jeans with a pale blue blazer. Adam had advised her to dress professional but modern for meeting with the producers, wanting them to see her as an artist with a head for business and a look for marketing.

Soon after, Adam slid a file of papers to Aelita over the breakfast table. Aelita wiped crumbs off her fingers with a napkin before opening the folder. Inside were a number of notes on her demo album, with three papers on top.

"What is this, a government file?" Aelita joked as she looked through the top papers. Each had a picture of a person in a business suit with detailed information on their job, history, and personality.

Adam pointed to the first picture. "That's Joseph Brighton. He's from America originally but is now a serious producer in Europe, stationed mainly in Amsterdam. He hates fake people, and talks a lot about craving originality in the industry." His finger slid to the next page. "This is Elise Scutch. She's fierce and cold, and hates girly girls. Interviews with her always include her desire to see more girls in the music industry who aren't all about their body." Adam pointed to the third page. "Finally, we have Marcus Loos. He's a millionaire, and very charming, a bit of a womanizer. He's Elise's opposite when it comes to attitude on women, but he would enjoy something fresh to add to the company. They work for the same record label, so you need to appeal to all three."

Aelita gulped her juice down nervously. "No pressure there..."

"You'll be fine," Adam said gently. "After the work we did yesterday, they'll be blown away. Just be yourself and you'll be fine." Aelita nodded. "The most important thing to remember is this - if they make you any offers, don't do or say anything without talking to me first. I'm your manager, I handle the business side of your work."

"Got it," Aelita said. "Is this outfit ok?"

Adam nodded as he buttered his scone. "Classy and professional while maintaining a youthful and attractive overall look. Perfect." He glanced at the clock and quickly folded a napkin around his scone. "We have to get going. We're meeting in a conference room at a hotel...in ten minutes."

They jumped to their feet and dashed out of the café, pausing only to leave a tip for the waitress. Upon reaching the conference room, Aelita settled in a comfy leather office chair while Adam attached his laptop to the projector in the room and organized his bag. Almost as soon as the man had sat down, he had to stand up again to greet the executives. Aelita jumped up as well to shake hands and smile kindly at the producers, making sure to greet them each by name.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Brighton," she said to the tall man with dark skin and early wrinkles. He nodded briskly at her, staring into her eyes as though examining a subject in a lab. Aelita turned to the woman next to him, a curvaceous lady with long black hair that was piled up into a complex bun. "Thank you for coming, Ms. Scutch." The woman scanned Aelita with her eyes, a half smile on her face. The next executive introduced himself without pause.

"Loos, Marcus Loos. You can call me Marcus though...Aelita, was it?" A man with pale skin and lots of freckles grinned at Aelita from behind dark sunglasses, his hair pulled back into a ponytail.

Aelita smiled politely, shaking his hand. "Mr. Loos, thank you for meeting with us." The man frowned slightly before returning to a smile and sitting in his chair. Adam began his presentation, quickly running through what Aelita had been doing for the last year, what events she had worked, and her aspirations in the music industry."

"I have a question," Ms. Scutch asked. "Miss Stones has been working these clubs for months under your jurisdiction...yet she is underage? Still a teenager?"

All eyes turned to Aelita, who worked very hard not to squirm under their stares. A quick nod from Adam told her this was her story to share. She took a breath. "I have been playing these shows, but always with the managers of the event knowing my age. Never have I taken advantage of the situation, and I've never broken a law. I realize I am young, but music is my career. I work hard, and Adam always makes sure I am in safe situations. My grades have been consistently high since I started this work, and my school knows everything that is going on."

"What about your parents?" Mr. Brighton asked. "Shouldn't they be in this meeting with us?"

Adam was quiet. "Aelita does not have any parents, she is an orphan."

The executive's look softened. "I'm so sorry," Mr. Brighton said.

Aelita forced a smile. "Thank you, but it's ok. I'm an emancipated minor, and I take care of myself well."

Soon after that awkward upset, the conversation returned to music. Adam showed a short video of the work they had done in the recording studio, then played the demo. Both Aelita and Adam held their breath as the producers listened, occasionally scribbling notes on their notebooks. Mr. Loos smiled a bit during the Killer Kiss rap, and Mr. Brighton could be seen tapping his fingers to the beat of Plugged In. Ms. Scutch remained neutral throughout the music, making Aelita sweat.

As soon as the demo finished, Ms. Scutch moved in with a question. "What is your image, Miss Stones?"

Adam began to speak. "We are looking at a demographic of..."

"No," Ms. Scutch cut him off. "I asked Miss Stones. What is your image? And your demographic, now that your manager has brought that up."

Aelita took a breath. "My music and image appeal most to teenagers and young adults. I mostly get approached by people between the ages of thirteen and twenty seven, respectively. I'd have to say my image is a classier version of the 'Good Girl Gone Bad' stereotype. Honestly, I'd just say that this is me. Adam doesn't pick my outfits, I do. I'm a girl who gets good grades in school, who doesn't break rules, and who is passionate about making music. I pride myself on being a person that others can respect, and that will never change."

Finally, Ms. Scutch smiled. "I like that answer," she said warmly. "Let's do business, shall we?"

She and Adam shook hands, and the other executives followed. As Adam debated contract details with the producers, Aelita quietly excused herself to get a snack from the vending machine outside. Alone and unrushed for the first time in days, Aelita checked her phone, frowning when she saw multiple missed calls from Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and other friends from her classes. Only one person had sent her a text - Odd.

"I'm in big trouble," the text read. "See you soon princess (I hope)."

Aelita quickly called Odd, but only got a beep that told her his phone was off. She called Ulrich, figuring he would know what was going on.

"Ulrich?" She said. "You there?"

Ulrich's voice was very quiet. "Yeah, but I'm supposed to be in class. I told them I was going to the bathroom, I only have a couple minutes."

"Same here," Aelita admitted. "It's busy here too. I had to call though, I got a text from Odd about him being in big trouble. Do you know anything?"

Ulrich sighed. "Yeah...it's a nasty story. We'll catch you up to speed tomorrow, ok? I have to go."

"Is he ok?" Aelita asked, becoming panicky.

"Probably," Ulrich said offhandedly. "Look, I really have to get back to class. Meet me and Yumi tomorrow in my room, ok? Bye." He ended the call before Aelita could press for more details, leaving her to growl in frustration. After getting a candy bar from the vending machine, Aelita returned to the conference room to see more hand shaking.

"Thank you, we appreciate it," Adam said with a beaming grin. The executives said goodbye to Aelita as they left, mentioning they looked forward to seeing her again. Mr. Loos winked at the young girl, who gave him a strained smile. When the room was empty, Adam whooped and gave Aelita a high five.

"So...things went well?" Aelita asked dumbly.

Adam grinned. "Better than ok! They will produce your album, and they like your image so much that they want to make music videos for some of your songs! Plus, they're giving us a cash bonus to help you get started on making more songs."

Aelita's eyes grew wide. "How much of a cash bonus?" Adam pointed to a number on the forms, and she grinned. "This is amazing." The excitement was so potent that Aelita didn't sleep at all during the drive back to France. It was nice, finally being out of the public eye. She changed out of the blazer and into a comfy sweatshirt, pulling her hair back into a messy ponytail. Adam turned up the radio and they sang along as they sped along the highway, passing other cars with abandon. It had been a lucrative weekend, and Aelita's future looked bright. Now if only she knew what happened to Odd.

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 **This chapter was a lot of fun to write, actually. I love the idea of Aelita really pushing herself to enjoy all the aspects of the music business. Leave reviews!**


	11. Say Goodbye

**New chapter! I've been incredibly busy the last month, but I'll try to speed up the updates. Enjoy!**

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Odd was gone before Ulrich even made it back to his dorm room. Granted, he and Yumi had taken Sam home. Yumi's parents had been good about the situation, not asking too many questions as they drove the teenagers to Sam's house. They had dropped Ulrich off at school after the dorm curfew, but luckily the teachers had been understanding. The room was devoid of Odd's possessions, though a small note had been left on Ulrich's desk.

Ulrich now read the note aloud to Yumi and Aelita, who sat on Odd's bed somberly. "Tell Sam it was an accident," Ulrich read aloud. "I'm being suspended for an indefinite amount of time, but my parents are going to negotiate with the school. I'll call when I can."

Aelita shook her head sadly. "I wish I could have been here to say goodbye," she said.

"So do I," Yumi said. "Odd keeps us together in bad times."

"It's weird," Ulrich laughed bitterly. "But I've been having trouble sleeping with the room so quiet, I'm so used to Odd's snoring after all these years of rooming together." Yumi moved to sit next to her boyfriend, giving him a hug.

"Let's find something else to talk about," Yumi suggested. It was Monday evening now, the only time that the three of them had been able to get together. Aelita had been shocked by the news of Odd's leaving, and all three had tried calling him multiple times, finally concluding that he must be grounded.

"The gigs went well," Aelita said. "And I got signed, though the actual record making won't happen for a few months."

"Why not?" Ulrich asked with a frown. "I thought they liked you."

Aelita shrugged helplessly. "It's hard to write original music when you're used to just remixing things I'm supposed to work on more songs, develop new tunes. Adam has already bought me books on songwriting, creative writing, all that stuff."

"It's still a great deal," Yumi smiled encouragingly. "You'll get it done, just give it time."

"That's what I've been doing with Jeremy, and it hasn't been helping," Aelita said sourly.

Ulrich frowned. "Something's off with him."

Yumi shrugged. "I haven't seen him at all, so I wouldn't know. As far as I'm concerned, he's pouting."

"It's something more than that," Aelita insisted. "I can tell!"

They pondered the situation for a moment. Ulrich finally broke the silence. "At least winter break is coming up soon," he said.

Yumi pouted. "I'm going to miss you," she said. "It sucks when you leave for school breaks."

"Then you're about to be very happy," Ulrich said mysteriously. The girls cocked their heads curiously. "I'm staying here over break to work on school stuff. I'm going to have a bunch of papers and projects to turn in at the end of the semester, which ends a week after school starts up again. I convinced my dad that I would be able to focus more if I stayed at school over break."

Yumi put a hand on his knee slyly. "I hope you'll take some study breaks," she said seductively.

He turned to her, their faces barely an inch apart. "There might be some extra credit to earn," his voice became husky. Aelita stood, red faced.

"I'm going to go," she said, walking quickly out of the room. As soon as the door closed, Yumi straddled Ulrich's lap and began kissing his neck, making him groan. They kissed more, and soon their shirts were off. As Ulrich reached back to unclasp her bra, Yumi leaned to whisper in his ear.

"What do you think?" She whispered to him. "You ready?"

Ulrich paused. "Ready for what?"

Yumi grinned at him. "You know...I mean, we have the room to ourselves, I don't have to be home for an hour..."

"Uh..." Ulrich looked away awkwardly. "This is all kinda sudden."

"Ulrich!" Yumi whined. "We've been looking forward to this for months!"

"I know, I know" he said patiently. "But hear me out." Yumi slid to sit next to him with a pout. "Right now there are proctors walking by every half hour or so, your parents are waiting for you at home, plus there are students on the other side of this wall here. I'm going to be around for all of winter break, which means privacy, and full days where I can control my schedule."

"That does sound nice," Yumi admitted. "Plus then we could prepare more."

Ulrich blushed. "Yeah...Odd reminded me a while ago that I would need to take a shopping trip."

"Shopping...?" Yumi's voice trailed off, then realized what would have to be bought. "Oh. Right." Her face turned red. "That would be smart."

Ulrich turned to his girlfriend. "Though, we can still do stuff tonight. If you're interested."

Yumi grinned. "Well, it's more fun than taking the scenic route home."

Back in her room, Aelita tried calling Odd once more. After getting his voicemail for the third time that day, she typed Jeremy's number in, listening to the rings of his phone absentmindedly.

"Hello?" Jeremy's voice came through the phone. Aelita was so shocked to hear him that she forgot to speak. "Hello? Who is this?"

Aelita coughed, shaking her head. She sat up, speaking quickly. "It's me, Jeremy. Please don't hang up."

It was quiet on the other end, and Aelita wondered if he had hung up. Finally, he spoke. "What the hell do you want?"

"I'm worried about you, we all are." She spoke desperately. "I'm sorry for how things went at the meeting, it was never supposed to go like that. I regret it every day."

Jeremy's voice was cold. "You all never did support me. I was just a tech puppet to you."

"What?!" Aelita cried. "Jeremy, you are our friend!"

"Was. I was your friend. Or at least your version of a friend." His anger could be felt through the phone. "Just forget about that and leave me alone, would you? You're incredibly annoying these days."

"No." Aelita spoke firmly, fighting the tears threatening to spill over. "Jeremy, I love you."

He was quiet. "I'm going to hang up now." With a click, the call ended. Aelita immediately dialed his number, only to get the signal that his phone was turned off. While Ulrich and Yumi enjoyed the carnal side of their relationship, Aelita buried herself in her blankets and cried.

Later that week, Aelita watched Jeremy take a seat in her math class. He looked tired, and wore a sweatshirt over rumpled khakis, his hair looking like it hadn't been combed or washed in a long time. He sat in the first row right by the door, and stared at the board stoically. Sissi leaned over to whisper in Aelita's ear, "Has your boyfriend been shampooing with keyboard cleaner?"

Aelita turned to frown at the girl. "Lay off of him, Sissi."

"I'm just saying," Sissi smiled devilishly. "First he gets knocked down a level in math, then he looks like absolute crap? If you ask me, I think you two are going through a bit of a divorce. No more Mr. and Mrs. Einstein!"

Deciding to ignore the last part of what Sissi said, Aelita frowned. "What do you mean, he got knocked down a level?"

"Didn't you know?" Sissi widened her eyes with mock surprise. "Jeremy's been doing horribly in his classes! Not turning in his homework, sleeping in class...the teacher decided that the AP level wasn't for him."

Aelita turned away from the school gossip, mulling over the information. This confirmed that something was seriously wrong with Jeremy. She had to talk to him. After class, Aelita followed Jeremy quietly, sneaking behind him all the way to his dorm room. When he went into his dorm room, Aelita caught the door, slipping into the room behind him, shutting the door quietly. Jeremy dropped his bag onto the floor and slumped down in his desk chair. The room was a mess. Dirty clothes and crumpled up papers littered the floor, and his bed was a mess of tangled sheets, as though he had been suffering from nightmares. Quietly, Aelita approached the Jeremy's dejected figure and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Jeremy," she said. He jumped, and whirled around suddenly, hands flying wildly. One of his hands clipped her cheek, leaving a red mark.

Momentarily, Jeremy looked scared. "Aelita..." His eyes were stuck on the red mark he had made, then he shook as though to clear his thoughts. "What are you doing here?"

"You need help," Aelita insisted. "I'm here for you Jeremy, I always have been and I always will be."

Jeremy scoffed. "You're kidding, right? You've made my life miserable from the moment I turned on that supercomputer."

"You don't mean that," Aelita said gently. "Look, it's obvious that you're upset. Can we please just talk? We're all worried about you."

"You want to talk?" Jeremy stood, a murderous look in his eyes. "Fine, let's talk. It's always all about you, isn't it? Whatever Aelita wants, Aelita gets. The spoiled little princess. You didn't want me to succeed, and you held me back. You made the others gang up on me."

Aelita shook her head. "Jeremy, that project was dangerous, it would expose everything!"

"You were just jealous!" Jeremy yelled, and threw a book at the wall. "You were always jealous, wanting to be the smart one, wanting to show me up. You couldn't handle that I was better than you, that I was smart enough to fully understand the supercomputer!"

"It's not even your work!" Aelita blurted out. "It's my father's, and you're taking credit for it. Just understanding his work isn't original, it only means he took good notes!"

Jeremy blinked back tears. "I hate you," he choked out. "Sometimes I wish I had never brought you to Earth."

A stab of pain went through Aelita's chest, and she stopped breathing. Garbled words came out of her mouth, and she just shook her head and moved to the door. Staring at Jeremy with shocked, hurt eyes, Aelita closed the door. She fled to her dorm room and cried, sobbing wildly as she clutched her pillow. Eventually she got angry and began throwing pillows at her wall. Why did she have to say that? Of course he got upset...but how dare he say that? He might as well have said he wished she were dead.

Hours later, Yumi texted to ask where Aelita had been during dinner. Not wanting to talk, Aelita texted a vague message about studying. It wasn't till close to midnight that Aelita spoke to someone. She had been lying in bed for hours flipping through magazines, listening to music, and writing lyrics. Her mobile rang and she reached to answer without looking, her eyes focused on a mildly amusing YouTube video.

"Hello?" she said, already hearing the weakness in her voice.

"Aelita?" Odd said on the other end. "You sound weird, are you okay?"

Aelita paused. "Odd? Is that you?"

"The one and only," he joked. "But really, you don't sound like your usual stuff. Everything okay?"

Although he couldn't see her, Aelita shook her head as tears began rolling down her cheeks again. "No Odd, everything is horrible. Jeremy and I had another fight, and I said he was plagiarizing from my father, and he said he wished he had never brought me to earth, and I went into his room and startled him, and he yelled, and it was just so horrible Odd, so horrible!" She cried, curling into a ball on her bed.

Odd took a moment to process the situation. It had taken weeks to convince his parents to let him use his phone again. He was grounded, and his parents were working diligently to get him put back at Kadic. They weren't proud of what happened, but they realized that it had been a mistake. Both of his parents were pretty open minded, so neither were horrified that he had been doing sexual things with a girlfriend. But he was still grounded. Lounging in the living room at his parents' house, Odd knew he was lucky to not be off at military school by now. At least he had a calm environment to talk to Aelita in.

"It'll be okay," he said. "From what I've heard, it sounds like Jeremy is going through some tough stuff."

Aelita shook her head. "That doesn't give him the right to say such horrible things," she said. "His recklessness is just going too far."

Odd frowned. "Uh huh. I mean, remember that it's just a fight. It's not the end of everything."

"...Right." Her voice was so quiet he could barely hear her.

"It'll be okay," Odd said reassuringly. "Just wait, I'm sure Jeremy will be back to normal any day now."

"Jeremy hasn't been himself for a long time, Odd."

Odd sighed. "Yeah, I know. Just don't give up hope."

"Yeah." Her tone was flat. "I have to go, dinner is ending soon."

She hung up shortly after. Odd shook his head in wonder as he closed his phone, unable to believe that things between Jeremy and Aelita had gotten that bad. It had only been a few weeks since the confrontation, how bad could he be? Another call distracted Odd.

"Hello?" he said, moving to get a snack from the kitchen.

"Odd?" a female voice said nervously. "It's me. Sam."

He stopped in the middle of the kitchen. "Sam? I'm so sorry, it was an accident, I swear! I thought I had deleted that footage, apparently my computer glitched and confused the files...please forgive me."

Sam was quiet. "I forgive you, Odd."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you. I really care about you Sam, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Did you like the movie otherwise?"

"Yeah." She sounded just as hollow inside as Aelita had. "It was great."

Odd frowned as he held the phone closer to his ear. "Sam, are you okay?"

A pause. "We need to break up."

"What?!" he cried. "Sam, I'm sorry! It was an accident! I would never hurt you like that on purpose!"

"I know," she said quietly. "But I think we should break up."

"Is this about distance?" he asked. "Because my parents said I should be back at school in a month or two."

"It's not that," Sam said tensely. "Just listen. I know you didn't mean for that footage to be shown, but it was pretty shocking all the same. After that...I just don't think we can recover. I've been getting all these messages from people at school saying nasty things. Some want to hook up with me, others call me a skank who just wanted attention. Odd...I'm going to switch schools again."

He was quiet. "I understand. Can we still be friends?"

"Of course," she said kindly. "Odd, you're my best friend. The relationship didn't work out, but we will always be friends I think."

"Besides, I can still go over to your house on the weekends," Odd said cheerfully. "We can hang out all the time!"

Sam paused. "My new school is in Bretagne."

"Oh." Odd sat down in a slump.

"I'll try to visit," she said gently. "But it's looking doubtful. We can stay in touch online though."

He nodded with determination. "Definitely. What's a little distance?"

She laughed. "I miss you tons, you know. How did your parents take the whole situation?"

"They're pretty liberal, so they're not pissed," Odd said. "I told them we never had sex, but they still gave me the whole big talk. My family has a pretty good amount of money, and they promised the school a big donation if they let me come back for the second semester. I'll be on probation but it should be ok overall."

"That's good," Sam said. "I'm glad you're not expelled for showing dirty pornography at school."

He laughed. "Hey, that was PG-13 at best." It felt good to talk to her. Odd had been worried that Sam would never want to talk to him again, and he wouldn't have blamed her if she had.

"I have to go," Sam said. "I'm kinda supposed to be packing right now."

"I'll message you," Odd promised.

"Bye," Sam said sadly. "Good luck."

Odd smiled. "You too, Sam." He shut his phone and sighed heavily, wiping at his eyes. Sam had just dumped him. And he was okay with that. Their relationship had been pretty casual, but he cared for her deeply. At least they were still friends. That was all he could hope for now.

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 **A sad chapter, I know. It won't be sad forever though! Till next time, leave reviews!**


	12. Alone in a Crowd

**Happy update day! I received some concerns about Jeremy becoming the villain of this story and I promise that isn't what's happening here. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter.**

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Aelita sat her tray across from Ulrich's and paused to look around their table. "It feels empty," she commented.

Sipping his coffee, Ulrich nodded. "Yeah, first Odd leaves, then Sam switches schools...Yumi is visiting colleges today."

"Does she know where she wants to go?" Aelita asked as she buttered her toast.

Ulrich shrugged. "Eh, sort of. Her parents want her to study something that'll make her successful."

"So...doctor, lawyer, accountant?" Aelita joked.

"Yeah, actually." Ulrich put his croissant on Aelita's tray. "Here, I'm not hungry."

"It's all the caffeine," Aelita said with a tsk.

He shrugged lazily. "Maybe. Anyway, Yumi is looking at schools in Paris today. She'll be back tomorrow I think, they had to take a train."

"I talked to Odd," Aelita said.

"That must have been who called me," Ulrich commented thoughtfully. "I had my phone turned off last night to study and this morning I had a couple missed calls."

"He's doing ok," Aelita said before she sipped her hot chocolate. "We didn't talk long."

Ulrich paused and stared at her. "Hold on," he said quietly, and leaned over to brush a lock of pink hair away from her face. "What happened to your face?" he asked, noting the dark red bruise by her jaw.

"It's nothing," Aelita said, letting the hair fall over her face. "It was an accident."

"Well, what happened?" Ulrich said. He joked, "It looks like you got smacked." She paused, and he became serious. "Did someone hit you?"

"It was an accident," she said sternly. "Don't worry about it, ok?"

"Who was it?" Ulrich asked. "It wasn't Jeremy, was it?"

Aelita stood. "Look, I have to go to class. I'll talk to you later, Ulrich."

"Aelita!" Ulrich growled in frustration as she walked away quickly, wrapping her croissant in a napkin to eat on the way to class. He sat alone at the breakfast table, and pulled out a book to read for his French Literature class. A figure dropped into a seat across from him, and Ulrich shifted his eyes slightly from the page.

"Hello, Ulrich dear," Sissi cooed. "I see you're alone this morning."

"Yes," he said coolly. "It was rather nice till you came over."

She scoffed. "Really Ulrich, you don't need to be so standoffish. I just came over because I heard you would be around over winter break."

"What's it to you?" he asked, still reading his book.

"Well, I'm going to be staying here too! My grades need work. Maybe we could be study buddies, hmm?" She batted her eyelashes flirtatiously.

Ulrich closed his book. "Sissi, I'd rather be boiled alive in hot oil." He slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving the insulted girl behind. She fumed, then walked over to her friends to complain. Walking across campus, Ulrich took a breath of the chilly late November air, smiling at the crunch of Autumn leaves under his feet. Fall was his favorite season. Winter was right around the corner, a time that Yumi referred to as cuddling season. He enjoyed cuddling with her as much as possible, especially when she wore comfy oversized sweaters with sleeves big enough for him to stick his hands in.

"Hey, Ulrich," a boy's voice called. Ulrich looked up to see William jogging towards him.

"Sup?" Ulrich asked casually.

William readjusted the bag on his shoulder nervously. "I've been hearing stuff about Jeremy having a tough time lately...is it related to the intervention?"

"Maybe," Ulrich admitted awkwardly. "Mostly he's just avoiding us."

William leaned in closer. "He's not self harming, is he?"

Ulrich muttered darkly, "Not self, but he is harming."

"Woah what?" William's eyes grew wide.

"It's nothing," Ulrich said. "I think Jeremy is fine, he's just sulking for attention at this point."

"Be careful," William warned. "I had a friend who got really depressed and it didn't end well."

Ulrich nodded slowly. "Ok. I'll check on him."

The boys stood in silence for a moment, still a bit uncomfortable being left alone in conversation together. "Well," William said. "I should be going."

"Same," Ulrich nodded. "See you." The boys took separate paths, and Ulrich furrowed his brow. He hadn't considered depression a possibility when it came to Jeremy. It made sense though. The messy clothes, the unstable attitude...but no mental illness excused hitting Aelita.

Up in her room, Aelita looked out over the schoolyard with a melancholic expression. She absentmindedly reached up to caress her cheek, fingering the red bruise there. Tapping her pen on the table, Aelita hummed a tune to herself before jotting down a line of lyrics in her notebook. The tune would be slow - she didn't want her album to be all fast dance music. Staring out the window, Aelita's gaze drifted to a hunched figure sitting on a bench in the shade of a tree, red and gold leaves scattered around his feet.

"Jeremy," Aelita whispered with longing, touching a hand to the cool glass.

As if hearing her, Jeremy looked up to find her staring at him, and held the gaze for a solid minute before walking away. He shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked the leaves that blocked his path, ignoring the wary glances he got from other students. Why was Aelita always trying to talk to him? Didn't she understand that he wanted to be left alone? The others seemed to get that just fine. Yumi and Ulrich avoided him, and Odd had been suspended, or expelled. Jeremy hadn't been at the film showing, though he had overheard classmates talking about the incident.

"Idiot," Jeremy muttered with a smirk. The rumors varied from some saying the film had ended with a montage of Sam and Odd kissing, to others insisting that the film showed the two of them having kinky sex on Ulrich's bed. He could ask the others what had really happened...but they had made their stances clear. They didn't trust him, and they didn't like him much either. They weren't worth the effort.

Heading up to his dorm room, Jeremy leaned heavily on the banister of the staircase. Lately his legs felt like they were filled with lead, every movement was slow and heavy. There was a constant ache in his chest, and fatigue was a constant as well. The scientific part of his brain insisted that he must have caught a bug, but a small nagging voice told him it was more than that. Jeremy flopped onto his bed upon entering the room, and rolled the blankets of his unmade bed around him. He planned to do his homework and sleep for a while, but his plans were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Jeremy?" A soft voice called. "Jeremy, I need to talk to you."

He groaned, and shuffled to the door, his eyes flashing with anger. "What?" he snapped, throwing the door open to reveal Aelita standing with a small cardboard box in her arms. "I thought I told you to leave me alone," Jeremy stated, crossing his arms.

Aelita tensed. "May I come in?"

"No," Jeremy said flatly.

She sighed and looked down at the box in her arms. "Jeremy, don't make me do this standing in the hall like this."

"What are you rambling on about now?" Jeremy asked, rolling his eyes. "Another nightmare, maybe?"

Aelita blinked, and her tone grew flat. "I'm breaking up with you," she said. "And I brought all your stuff back, it's here in this box." Aelita pushed the box into Jeremy's arms and turned to go.

"Wait," Jeremy called, panic flooding his senses. "What do you mean, you're breaking up with me?"

"I mean, we're breaking up." She crossed her arms and took a step back. "I'm not putting up with this anymore Jeremy."

"What did I do wrong?" he asked, choking on his words. "I did everything for you! I brought you here, I saved your life!"

"And I will always be grateful to you for that," Aelita said calmly. "But I am not going to stay with someone who mistreats me." She uncrossed her arms, looking around with a sarcastic grin. "You want to know what you did wrong, Jeremy? Think. We've had one date since April, one date. I barely heard from you all summer, and then just when I thought things were getting better, you pulled in the bullshit of wanting to expose everything just so you could get recognition for understanding some of my father's notes. You've been nothing but nasty to me for a month, and I understand that you were upset about the intervention we hosted but you didn't need to take it out on me. I'm not your doormat, I'm your girlfriend, and I don't have to take this anymore. If you have anything of mine, please return it. And if you ever remember how to be polite to your friends, give me a call." She turned to leave.

"Aelita..." Jeremy's eyes filled with sorrow, holding the cardboard box to his chest as a child would cradle their teddy bear.

She looked back. "I'm sorry." Her voice choked on tears, and Aelita walked away quickly. Alone in the hallway, Jeremy walked back into his room, his senses numb. He sat on the bed and placed the cardboard box next to him. His hands shaking, Jeremy sorted through the box with care, organizing the items on his bed. Every item brought back memories. Here was the sweater he had loaned her three years ago when she had been cold at a ball game. There were the books he had insisted she would love, that she had asked to keep after discovering his prediction to be correct. The charm bracelet he had given her for Valentine's Day two years ago, with the heart-shaped stones embedded in the metal. Three mix tapes from when they took a road trip with the gang last summer, and four empty bottles of the perfume he always bought her for Christmas. A teddy bear that had helped her sleep during the year after Xana was destroyed, and the cellphone he had given her after she came to Earth, unused for years but still carrying the her old signature purple keychain.

A tear rolled down Jeremy's cheek, and he patiently wiped it away. Flipping through the books he had given her, Jeremy saw the little notes she had written about favorite characters, questions on the plot, and even a few small doodles. Two tears were going now. This time he didn't try to stop them as he spotted a small note reading "Me and Jeremy," pointing to an illustration of a couple getting married. He dropped the book and sobbed heavily, his breathing raspy and broken. What had he messed up? What had he thrown away? Jeremy hugged the teddy bear to his chest, and Aelita's scent wafted into his nostrils, making him cry more.

"I'm sorry," he said, rocking in place. "I'm so sorry."

When the crying was done, Jeremy began to pace. He had messed up, he knew that. Now what was he going to do about it? Aelita would never take him back. Jeremy glanced at the mirror, and saw a dirty, fatigued boy staring back at him.

"I'm disgusting," he whispered. Jeremy glanced at the computer, the one constant in his life. Computers made sense. People didn't. Jeremy sat and began typing, a solution already forming in his mind.

* * *

 **I'M SORRY, OKAY? Yes, it is sad. I know. Everything is sad when Odd is away, he's the funny man of the group. Leave reviews!**


	13. A Night to Remember

**A long awaited chapter. It's winter break, and time for some changes. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Jeremy's mother turned around from the passenger seat of the car to eye her son with concern. Her normally polite and energetic son sat slumped, a rumpled sweatshirt hiding his face.

"I'm trying to sleep," he said flatly from under the hood. His mother nodded quietly before turning back around. She exchanged a concerned glance with her husband, who turned on the car radio.

When they hit a red light, Jeremy's father muttered to his wife, "He looks tired, let him sleep. We'll talk to him about the other stuff when we get home." She nodded, and the rest of the ride was passed in silence.

Meanwhile, music blared in Aelita's dorm room. Aelita bounced on the bed with excitement, crying, "Freedom! Freedom from school!"

Yumi laughed, lounging in the desk chair casually. "Uh, you live here."

"So?" Aelita dropped to her knees on the bed. "Three weeks of no classes sounds like a great deal to me. Plus I'll be doing gigs and events without having to worry about homework."

Yumi's phone beeped. She glanced at it, and read aloud, "I'm in the library. When do we need to leave?" Before rolling her eyes at her friend. "Honestly, that boy works too hard."

Aelita shrugged. "Hey, he's taking a lot of classes. And tell him we're leaving at three. The club is open early today to celebrate students getting off school, so the gig starts at three-thirty and should wrap up by seven. Then we can go out to dinner afterwards."  
"This really is so cool," Yumi said with a grin. "I've never been to a night club."

"Really Yumi," Aelita teased. "Even Milly and Tamiya have been to a club!"

"Only because they had fake IDs!" Yumi pointed out defensively. "I prefer to be a legal patron, thank you very much."

Aelita laughed before settling in to pack her bag for the night. "So," She said. "How did the college visits go last week?"

"Ugh." Yumi flopped back on the bed beside her friend. "Too stressful for words. All the people at the schools assumed that I couldn't speak French because I was Japanese, and my parents could not have acted more awkward. Plus they brought Hiroki along."

"Geez." Aelita moved to her dresser. As she began sorting through her clothes, she asked, "Did you like any of them?"

Yumi nodded. "I really like the American University of Paris, but it's super expensive. I'd need a big scholarship to go there."

"You could probably get one," Aelita said. "Don't write it off just because of cost."

"I'm not." Yumi said reassuringly. "But I do have to have backups to that one. My mom likes the Université Paris Sud, it's pretty good too."

"Where does Ulrich want to go again?" Aelita asked as she began stripping.

Yumi raised her eyebrows as her friend changed clothes in front of her unexpectedly. "Uh...he said his dad wants him to go to Ludwig Maximiliens University. Other than that I don't know."

Aelita nodded. "What do you think, the white or the blue?" She held up two dresses, one fringed in lace, the other edged with gold.

"The white," Yumi said, watching Aelita squirm her way into the garment. "Wait," Yumi said, looking down at her casual clothes. "Were we supposed to dress up for this?"

Aelita shrugged, struggling to zip up the back of her dress. Yumi rolled her eyes and went to help her. Aelita smiled sweetly. "Thanks. I dress up because I'm going to be on stage. You can wear whatever you want."

"What do girls usually wear to these sorts of things?" Yumi asked, fingering her old sweatshirt nervously.

"Dresses or skirts, heels," Aelita said casually. "But really, you can wear whatever you want."

Yumi texted her boyfriend quickly, and groaned as the sound of a new text message came a moment later. "Ulrich said he's going to wear a button up and his leather jacket because, and I quote, 'it's a club, you're supposed to dress up a little.' Aelita, why didn't you warn me? I'm going to look stupid."

"I'm sorry!" Aelita said. "I don't usually even see the crowd at these shows! We don't leave for thirty minutes, can't you run home and get something?"

"No, my house is a ten minute run from here, by the time I got back I'd be all sweaty and messy." Yumi paced the room, then stopped. "Can I borrow something of yours?"

"Of course," Aelita said, stepping aside to allow her friend access to her dresser. "Some of it might be a little small though, since you're a lot taller than I am."

"You have bigger tits," Yumi teased. "It balances out that way." Aelita swatted at her friend with a red face.

"Shush," Aelita muttered. After a few minutes, Yumi had four dresses laid across the bed. Aelita pointed to the rightmost one. "That one would probably fit best, I haven't had the chance to wear it yet," she said. "Plus it's more your style."

Yumi nodded. The others all had lace or sequins on them - this seemed the best for her. Turning away from her friend, Yumi pulled her clothes off before folding them and placing the stack neatly on Aelita's desk chair. Aelita zipped the dress up and helped Yumi adjust the garment. When Yumi turned to the mirror, her eyes widened.

"Woah," She said quietly. "Ok let's never let my parents see me in this," She said with a joking tone, still staring at the mirror. The dress was much shorter than she would usually wear, and made of a dark cloth that clung to her every curve, as minimal as they were. Yumi turned, and saw that it was quite flattering to her butt as well. The dress was backless, with long sleeves that somehow stayed in place despite the fact that the neckline plunged low enough to expose a few centimeters of cleavage.

Aelita laughed. "Yeah, Adam wasn't too happy when I bought that dress. You can keep it if you want."

"No way," Yumi breathed. "This dress is too gorgeous for me to keep." She tugged at the hem, eying how it ended only a couple inches from her butt.

"Here." Aelita tossed her friend a wadded ball of cloth. "Have some tights." Yumi nodded and pulled on the tights, noting the designs stitched on over the sheer fabric.

"This is all kind of surreal," Yumi admitted. Aelita had pulled out her makeup kit and begun applying different powders and creams to her face, leaving Yumi to admire the dress more. As the mood quieted, Yumi looked out the window at the empty schoolyard outside, most kids having already left to go home for the holidays.

"So," Yumi said casually. "You and Jeremy broke up."

Aelita paused in applying her eyeliner before continuing. "Yup. We did."

"And you're okay?" Yumi asked warily.

"Yup." She seemed completely focused on applying her makeup.

Yumi eyed her friend. "Seriously, are you okay? You broke up over a week ago and you still haven't told me what happened."

Aelita sighed and snapped her mirror shut, leaving one eye still bare of makeup. "Look, I'm ok. I broke up with him, and it was fine."

"Okay." Yumi texted Ulrich with a reminder that they were leaving in fifteen minutes. The room was quiet as Aelita began applying dark makeup to her other eye. Finally, Aelita spoke.

"It was hard to do," she said quietly as she swirled blush over her cheeks. "We were together for years. But he's changed a lot over the last year, and so have I. And after he reacted so badly to us intervening on his project a couple months ago...I just couldn't take it after he hit me."

"Wait, what?" Yumi cried, startled. "When did he hit you?"

Aelita continued to apply her makeup, now focusing on her lips. "It was an accident," she said in that same quiet tone. "I snuck into his room to make him talk to me, and accidentally startled him. He freaked out and accidentally hit me, not too hard but hard enough to leave a mark. Then he was just really rude and nasty...the relationship barely existed at the end, honestly."

Yumi shook her head. "I can't imagine that happening to Ulrich and me," she said. "I mean sure we fight sometimes, but to get to the point that you and Jeremy did..."

"You'll be okay," Aelita said as she began styling her hair into a braid. "Don't stress. Besides, aren't you guys going to consummate your relationship pretty soon?"

"Yeah," Yumi blushed. "But don't mention anything to Ulrich, he's awkward enough when we talk about it on our own."

"Do you have condoms?" Aelita asked, putting her makeup away.

Yumi shrugged. "Uh...I think so. I haven't asked. Can I use some of your makeup?" Aelita nodded and handed her bag over to Yumi. "Thanks. So yeah, I don't know when it'll happen other than that we're aiming for sometime over winter break."

"I'll try not to disturb," Aelita giggled, watching Yumi apply eyeliner and dark red lipstick to her face, then swipe a bit of blush over her cheekbones. "Very nice," Aelita said approvingly. A knock on the door alerted the girls of Ulrich's arrival, and Yumi shouldered her purse delicately, not wanting her dress to slip. Aelita opened the door to reveal Ulrich wearing a well fitting pair of black jeans, a dark green button up shirt, and a brown leather jacket.

"Hey," Ulrich said to Aelita. "Are we ready to go?"

Aelita nodded. "Just let me grab my bag." She stepped away from the door, leaving Ulrich to stare at Yumi with wide eyes.

"Uh...wow." His brain clouded, and suddenly all he could think of was how amazing Yumi's legs looked when she wore a dress that short, and how gorgeous she looked with the late afternoon sun streaming in the window behind her.

Yumi blushed. "Hey."

Aelita led the pair down the hall and out of the dorm, and Ulrich continued to stare at his girlfriend the entire time, choking on any possible words when he saw the smooth plane of her back exposed. When they reached the car, Ulrich managed to regain enough brain power to shake Adam's hand and introduce himself as Yumi did the same. After Yumi and Ulrich had crawled into the back of the car, Adam looked to Aelita, his eyebrows raised.

"The black dress?" he asked, lowering his dark shades to peer at the girl questioningly.

Aelita smiled innocently. "It was the only one that fit her!" Adam sighed and gestured for Aelita to get in the car. They listened to classic rock on the drive to the club, entering downtown Paris just in time to witness the rush of local public school students celebrating their winter break. Students laughed and danced, their breath forming visible clouds in the frosty winter air. As they pulled up to the club, Yumi eyed the long line of shivering people waiting to get in, suddenly regretting leaving her sweatshirt back at the dorm.

"Don't worry," Aelita said. "We don't have to wait there." She was right. After parking the car, Adam went to the bouncers, displayed some forms, and the three teens were waved forward immediately. After checking their IDs, the bouncers stamped stars on each teenager's hand to mark that they were under the legal drinking age.

Once inside, Yumi leaned over to whisper to Ulrich, "My birthday is in two months, you don't think they'd make an exception, do you?" To which Ulrich shook his head and laughed. Aelita left to go set up, and Ulrich and Yumi joined the crowd. Each had only their cellphone and wallet on them, which they clutched protectively as the crowd moved around them. Ulrich held Yumi's hand as they moved nearer to the stage where Aelita would be set up soon.

"We don't know anyone here," Ulrich said nervously.

Yumi smiled devilishly. "That might not be a bad thing." Without warning, she gripped Ulrich's head and pulled him in for a kiss. When she was done, Ulrich looked around with nervous panic, expecting to be reprimanded or teased for such a public display of passion. To his surprise, not a single person seemed to have noticed. Aelita's set began, and he grinned at Yumi as they began moving to the rhythmic beats of Aelita's remixes. The whole crowd bobbed their heads, and a silent agreement seemed to have been decided Yumi and Ulrich - no talking.

He gripped her waist with strong hands as she leaned back against him, tilting her head to allow him to pepper her neck with kisses as she ground back against him slowly. As the speed of the song increased, they began to do complex foot work, spinning and twisting. When the beat dropped, they kissed. When the tunes grew smooth, they danced cheek to cheek. The dancing was varied, sometimes silly and sometimes seductive. From up on the stage, Aelita could see Yumi and Ulrich dancing in the crowd, obviously very caught up in the atmosphere. A lot of people came to the club and just danced their inhibitions away, it was something she saw most nights she worked. But to see two of her closest friends being so intimate with each other...seeing them like that did nothing but bring intense feelings of loneliness that stabbed her in the chest.

Aelita set a pre-recorded dance track on the machine and sat down to take a drink of water, attempting vainly to settle her emotions. Adam entered the backstage area with a concerned expression.

"Are you ok?" he asked. "Need a snack? Drink? Aspirin?"

Aelita smiled at her manager's concern but shook her head. "I'm ok," she said. "Just need a minute."

Adam looked around for a moment before sitting on the floor next to her. "Look, if there's something you need to talk about, I'm here, ok? Even if it's just to vent. I do care about you, you know. For more than just your music, or your career. You're like one of my little cousins almost."

Aelita nodded with a smile, trying hard not to cry from his kind words. "Thanks," she said thickly, waving a breeze at her eyes. "Just don't want my makeup to smear." Adam pulled a tissue out of his pocket, and Aelita dabbed delicately at her eyes, careful not to mess up her work.

"I'm here," Adam reiterated. "And if you need to go, just say so."

She nodded. "I'll be ok, really. But thanks." She pocketed the tissue for later use, and stood to resume the evening's work. Adam left quietly, scooting across the floor so the audience wouldn't see him. Back in the green room, the stern gaze of Ms. Scutch greeted him.

"Why was she upset?" the businesswoman asked. "Does this happen often?"

Adam forced a smile. "Aelita just had a headache, I got her an aspirin. She's fine now."

Ms. Scutch narrowed her eyes at the manager. "Alright. Now tell me the truth."

"Well," Adam said nervously. Finally deciding that the truth was best, he sighed and began to tell the story he and Aelita had agreed to never allow the press to discover. "Aelita hasn't had it easy," He explained. "She hasn't been an orphan since birth, she lost her mother when she was five or six and her father when she was thirteen. I don't know the exact details, but it was pretty traumatic. When we were starting her first gigs two years ago, I would rent one hotel room for us to share to save money. She would wake up from nightmares most nights, we ended up having to give her melatonin some nights so she would sleep. There were panic attacks, fainting spells...she ended up seeing a therapist for a couple months last year." He noted that Ms. Scutch's expression never changed. "She's been doing much better since then. She's not on any medications except for mild sleep aids, though she does get anxious on occasion."

Ms. Scutch was quiet. "Does this hinder her career?"

"Never," Adam said quickly. "In fact, I suspect that her personal issues inspire a lot of her music."

The woman nodded. "Then it shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure she doesn't have a relapse, the media loves crazy starlets, but not insane ones." Adam nodded. Ms. Scutch continued, "And she knows we are meeting afterwards, yes?"

Adam paused. "Yes." He quickly shot a text at Aelita.

On stage, Aelita grinned as her set finished. Many people in the crowd waved to her as the MC announced her name once again. Ulrich and Yumi were kissing on the dance floor, still moving to the beat of the song. Aelita cringed at the prospect of having to break that up, but entered the crowd anyway. Standing nearby the kissing couple, Aelita coughed loudly. They appeared not to hear. She hesitated to tap Yumi on the shoulder, thinking she might mistake Aelita's hand for Ulrich's.

"Ahem," Aelita said delicately. "Guys? We have to go."

No response.

Aelita cupped her hands around her mouth and called, "Ulrich, Yumi! It's time to go!" The couple broke apart immediately, very red faced and flustered.

"Oh," Yumi said, smoothing down her dress. "I didn't realize it was so late."

"Yes we should get going," Ulrich said awkwardly, his face red as a tomato. "Great set, Aelita."

Aelita rolled her eyes. "Oh please. You two were making out the entire time."

"Not the entire time!" Yumi protested. Aelita chuckled at the flustered pair. They were almost at the doors when Aelita's phone buzzed. She checked the screen and frowned.

"Shoot," Aelita muttered before turning to her friends. "Bad news - apparently one of my producers is here and wants to meet to talk about marketing the album."

"So no dinner?" Ulrich asked.

Aelita shook her head. "Sorry, this was unexpected. You guys can still get something in town if you want, but I have no idea when this meeting will end."

"We can get a cab back," Yumi suggested. "I'd ask my parents for a ride but they're off at a ball game with Hiroki tonight."

"I'm really sorry guys," Aelita said. "I thought we'd get to hang out more than this."

"It's fine," Ulrich said with a gentle smile. "It was great just being here."

The friends hugged, and Aelita waved goodbye before jogging to meet her manager. Yumi and Ulrich watched Aelita jog away, pink and blue braid flying out behind her, before stepping out into the chilly evening air. Yumi spoke to the bouncer briefly, who gave them directions to a local café. While Ulrich got them coffees, Yumi talked to other customers and got the number of a local taxi business. As Ulrich handed Yumi her to-go cup of coffee, Yumi snapped her phone shut with a cheerful smile.

"Good news," she said. "The taxi should be here in a few minutes. My parents said I can use my emergency credit card to pay for the ride."

Ulrich nodded. "Sounds good. Where will he drop us? Your house?"

"Yeah," Yumi said after taking a sip of her coffee, relishing the warmth of it in her hands. "I considered having them drop us at school but I probably shouldn't be walking around without a coat."

"I have a solution for that." Ulrich shrugged out of his coat and helped Yumi into it. The coat was a bit baggy but fit well, hiding her exposed back from the wind. She smiled, and he kissed her forehead sweetly. Their taxi arrived, and the two teenagers dashed outside. Yumi gave the driver her address, and the driver nodded and sped off. Yumi and Ulrich spent most of the ride in silence, only occasionally pointing out a special sight as they drove out of the city of lights. When they arrived at the Ishiyama household, the driver turned back to speak to the teens.

"Be careful tonight," he warned. "It's supposed to snow." Yumi nodded and thanked the driver before paying him with her card and dashing inside with Ulrich, already feeling the wind increasing. Upon entering the house, Ulrich removed his sneakers, accustomed to the traditions of Yumi's household as she unzipped her combat boots.

Yumi looked around the empty living room. "Mom? Dad?" she called. "Hiroki?"

"I guess they're still at the game," Ulrich said.

She shrugged. "I guess so. You want to get some food since we skipped dinner?"

Ulrich nodded, and followed his girlfriend into the kitchen. Yumi pulled a platter of leftover sushi from the fridge, then selected two pairs of chopsticks and two small plates from the cabinets. Every time he ate dinner at Yumi's house, Ulrich was grateful for having signed up for the Japanese Culture Club, as the club members had insisted he learn how to eat expertly with chopsticks. Yumi and Ulrich devoured the food quickly, washing it down with hot herbal tea.

"Tonight was fun," Yumi said as they settled onto the couch together, each grasping a mug of steaming liquid.

Ulrich nodded and sipped his tea. "It was," he agreed. "I just hope Aelita's not in any trouble."

"She'll be fine," Yumi said with a wave of her hand. "She knows how to handle corporate people."

"And boys," Ulrich commented. "You know she and Jeremy still aren't talking, right?"

Yumi nodded. "Yeah, I finally got her to talk about it today though. Apparently things had been pretty miserable for a while, and his behavior after our intervention was just the tipping point for her."

Ulrich was quiet, staring down at his drink. "Do you think Jeremy could be depressed?" he asked. "I was just talking to William and he said...he said some stuff."

"It's a possibility," Yumi admitted. "But depressed people just get mopey, right? Jeremy has been angry and lazy, there's a difference."

Ulrich shrugged. "I guess." A beep from Yumi's phone interrupted their conversation. She opened her phone and tapped a message back before turning to Ulrich.

"My parents are ok, but it started snowing hard when they left the ballpark. They're going to stay the night in a hotel in Versailles and come back tomorrow."

Ulrich pulled back the curtain to look outside. "It's starting to come down here too," he commented.

"Maybe we should have a sleepover," Yumi joked. Ulrich stared at her. Yumi stared back at her boyfriend, making a perfectly adorable image in his big leather jacket. "What?" she asked innocently.

Ulrich put his tea on the table, and moved Yumi's tea from her hands to the table. Before she could ask what he was doing, he pulled her into a kiss, cradling her in his arms. After the initial shock ended, Yumi kissed him back, enjoying the sensation of being held so tightly. Ulrich pulled away to stare at her with intense focus. "I've been staring at you in that dress all night, just wanting to rip it off your body. Let's do it tonight. You and me, here and now, no rush, and all the privacy we could want."

Yumi raised her eyebrows in surprise, but felt her heartbeat quicken. "Do you have..."

He nodded. "I have two in my wallet."

She laughed. "Oh, so this was planned."

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "I stuck them in there during a dorm inspection last week and never took them out."

"Fair enough," Yumi whispered, drawing close to her boyfriend, arms still looped around his neck. They rubbed noses in an Eskimo kiss, smiling with half closed eyes at each other. "Let's go to my room," she murmured. "It's high time you saw it, after all."

Yumi sashayed up the stairs, and Ulrich followed her obediently. Upon reaching her room, Ulrich looked around curiously, not having seen the place in a few years. A writing desk and chair, a TV, a radio, a dresser, and most importantly - a bed. Low to the ground, in the Japanese style, but with a thick duvet cover and multiple pillows piled up. Yumi leaned on the side of her desk, and Ulrich was drawn to her like a moth to a flame, kissing her before his body had stopped moving.

Yumi slid to sit fully on the desk, wrapping her legs around Ulrich as they continued kissing. His lips traveled down her neck, along her collarbone, and everywhere else that her dress was not covering as he slid his jacket off of her. She nipped at his earlobe and pulled at his hair, making him kiss her harder as he pulled her body to him tightly.

"Yumi," he said breathily. "You look fantastic in this dress, but I need it to come off." The zipper went down slowly, as did the rest of the night. They spoke in soft tones, moving slowly.

"Hold on," Yumi said, pain in her face. Ulrich froze. After a moment, Yumi's expression relaxed. "Ok, go now."

Their clothes lay scattered around the room, only a single lamp lighting the room, casting long shadows of figures dancing sensually. She kissed him, and he held her to him gently as he released a shuddering breath. When both condoms had been used and disposed of, Ulrich made sure that Yumi would go to sleep feeling good before crawling under the covers with her. Warm and wet, each held their partner with a comforting embrace.

"I love you," they whispered before drifting to sleep, feeling the emotion of the night leave their drained bodies.

* * *

 **So the big event finally happened! Ulrich and Yumi finally got around to having sex. In an effort to keep this story rated T, all their sex stuff is going to be pretty vague. Next time - girl talk, daddy issues, and school drama! Leave reviews!**


	14. Being With Ulrich

**New chapter! We're picking up right where we left off. Enjoy!**

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The next morning, Ulrich woke to Yumi's phone beeping with a text message, his girlfriend already awake and opening her phone.

Yumi yawned as she read the message. "My parents say they'll be home in half an hour," she said. "You should probably get back to school."

Ulrich reached his arms out to her. "Five more minutes?" Yumi laughed as she allowed herself to be dragged down with him, enjoying the embrace of soft blankets and Ulrich's gentle touch.

"We can't have my parents discovering you, you know." Her voice was a mere whisper as she drew circles on his chest, admiring the faint muscles there. "And as much as I love you, I love my self respect a bit more."

He laughed. "Fine, I'll go." They kissed once, twice, then a third time, each time hesitating more. Finally the naked buck stood, stumbling with fatigue as he searched from his clothes. Yumi went in for a quick shower as he dressed, re-emerging wrapped in only a towel, her dripping black hair making her face look thin, the smudged makeup from last night having been cleansed away. They kissed, and Yumi let the towel drop as he embraced her.

"I love you," she said with a mischievous smile as he took in her form.

Ulrich sighed. "You just love making it hard for me to stay away."

"Maybe I can stop by tomorrow," Yumi whispered.

"I'd like that," Ulrich whispered back. Another kiss, and he was gone. Yumi directed him to go out using the back door, and soon Ulrich was walking down the street towards the school with a wide grin stuck on his face. Back in her room, Yumi did a small victory dance before toweling off and pulling clothes on for the day. She would have to clean her room, but right now all she could focus on was what had happened last night. Ulrich replayed the night in his head over and over again as he walked up to his room, so lost in thought that he didn't notice Sissi till he ran into her.

"Watch where you're going!" she sneered.

Ulrich blinked, that same grin still on his face. "Huh? Oh, sorry Sissi."

Sissi glared suspiciously at him. "Where were you last night? I didn't see you anywhere on campus. You and Aelita signed out to be downtown, but she came back at eleven last night. Where were you, hmm?"

His good mood faded quickly. "Leave me alone," he huffed, moving to get past the annoying girl.

"You're not allowed to spend the night off campus without permission," Sissi declared. "Let me guess, you were with your string bean of a goth?"

Ulrich looked back at Sissi. "And so what if I was?"

"Well, imagine what would happen if the principal found out!" Sissi got close to Ulrich and sniffed his breath. "I think we all know what you did last night."

He turned red. "What the Hell?"

"How about this," Sissi said, backing away with a sadistic smile. "I'll keep your secret...and you owe me one."

Ulrich eyed the girl warily. "One what?"

She giggled. "Oh Ulrich dear, I can't tell you. That would ruin the surprise." She left the hall, and Ulrich stared at her with confusion and concern in his eyes. Once upstairs, Sissi smirked as she walked primly to her room.

"Sissi," Aelita called from her doorway. "Is there anything in the cafeteria this morning?"

The brunette giggled. "I don't know, Aelita. Maybe ask Ulrich - though after all the eating he did last night, I can't imagine he'd be hungry this morning." she cackled and walked away, leaving Aelita looking very confused.

At the Ishiyama household, Yumi greeted her parents with relief. "I was a bit worried," she confessed. "A lot of people had car crashes last night from the snow."

Yumi's mother laughed. "Dear, you know your father is a perfectly good driver."

Her father yawned and settled into an armchair. "So, how did you amuse yourself last night?"

"Um," Yumi fought to keep from blushing as memories of last night flooded her senses. "Just watched TV. We had dinner in Paris after Aelita's show, then she dropped me off here pretty late before going back to school with Ulrich."

"And you didn't have road trouble?" her mother asked curiously. "We heard everywhere was just horrendous last night."

Yumi nodded, thinking. "We got in right before the storm got really bad." her parents nodded, seemingly appeased. Yumi breathed a sigh of relief, going up to her room to clean up. Once her bedroom door was closed, Yumi couldn't help but let out a little giggle, flopping down on her bed and relishing the scent of Ulrich on her pillow. She typed in Aelita's number and waited patiently as the rings echoed in her ear.

"Hello?" Aelita said.

Yumi grinned. "Guess what I did last night."

In her room, Aelita paused to stare at the phone in concern. "Yumi? What did you do?"

She laughed. "The question is more who."

Aelita's eyes grew wide. "You and Ulrich?" she whispered. "You did it?"

"Uh huh!" Yumi laughed. "I couldn't wait till tomorrow to tell you."

"I'm glad you didn't!" Aelita exclaimed with a grin. "So, how was it? I want details."

"Geez," Yumi said with a nervous laugh. "I'm not sure where to start."

Aelita picked at her nails absentmindedly while pressing the phone to her ear with her shoulder. "Weren't you guys going to plan out a day over winter break for that?"

"We were," Yumi said, moving to the bathroom so she wouldn't be overheard by someone walking by in the hall. "But then my parents texted saying they were staying at hotel to avoid the bad weather, and I suggested a sleepover as a joke..."

"Wait," Aelita said. "Did he actually stay the night?"

Yumi grinned. "Yup!"

"Oh wow," Aelita breathed. "So...was it good?"

Yumi felt her cheeks redden. "I mean, yeah. Kind of awkward, but we mostly knew what we were doing." She laughed. "There was this one part, see, where I tried raising my leg in a different position and I strained a muscle and ended up somersaulting backwards off the bed...it took ten minutes for Ulrich to stop laughing."

Aelita laughed raucously. "That's hilarious," she said. Once the girls had finished their chuckles, Aelita decided to see how much more she could pry out of Yumi. "Did it hurt?"

"...a little. We took things really slowly, but I'm still kind of sore." She blushed, and unconsciously pressed her legs together.

Aelita giggled. "Well alright. I'm guessing Ulrich lasted all of two minutes."

Yumi gasped in mock outrage. "Hey! Give my boyfriend a bit of credit!"

"Never!" Aelita cackled.

The older girl sighed with disappointment. "Anyway," she said with emphasis. "How did the meeting go?"

Aelita shrugged. "It was just marketing stuff. We're going to make a music video in a month or so, and there are arrangements to be made like who to hire, the meaning of the song, all that. I was actually wondering if you would be willing to be in the video with me, maybe Ulrich and Odd too."

"Seriously?" Yumi raised her eyebrows, glancing in the mirror. "I'm not sure I'm music video material."

"You're fine," Aelita said. "Plus it'll be more fun with you all there. Maybe you could even do some backup vocals, the song could use some more variety in that area."

"Sure," Yumi said. "I'll ask Ulrich about it."

Ulrich stared at his history notes with intense focus, glaring at the pages till the words started to blur together. He sighed and shut the notebook with frustration, deciding to work on his math project before starting on the history paper. He had a project in every class, even drawing. On top of all that, the coaches wanted him to stay in shape so he had to fit a workout into his schedule every day. The college counselor had suggested he make a schedule for each day of his winter break so he would stay on top of things, and now it hung above his desk. He started and ended every day with a workout, then studied and worked on projects all day, with scheduled breaks for food as the counselor was not confident in Ulrich's ability to remember to eat.

"This is ridiculous," Ulrich muttered. His phone rang, and Ulrich groaned at the sight of the caller ID. He opened the phone and prepared for the worst. "Hey dad."

"Ulrich. How are your studies? Are you on top of things?" His father's voice was clipped and aggressive, always direct and blunt.

"Yes," Ulrich said unsteadily. "I'm trying my best."

"You know how important this year is," his father said. "Your GPA fell by almost an eighth of a point last month - we can't afford mistakes. Maybe you need tutoring to bring your grades up."

"Dad, I'm getting straight A's." Ulrich's voice was desperate as he ran a hand through his hair.

"No, you got a B on a quiz in your German class last week." His father grew angry. "Dammit Ulrich, is it always going to be a struggle to get you to be more than average?"

Ulrich grew quiet as he slumped in his desk chair. "I'm trying." The waste bin was piled high with empty coffee cups and napkins from taking sandwiches over from the cafeteria. The desk and bed were covered by binders, notebooks, and various projects.

"Not hard enough," his father grumbled. He returned to a business-like manner with his son. "I'm signing you up for History of Religion next semester, as well as an advanced biology class. It'll make you seem more well rounded."

"Dad, how can I possibly take more classes? I'm already taking more than the school allows!" Ulrich's voice was desperate as he began to pace the room, hands shaking from stress.

"Let me handle that," his father said. "I'm also going to arrange for you to be tutored every night for the second semester - your grades need to get better."

Ulrich felt close to crying. "Dad, I'm getting straight A's..."

"There have been a fair number of B's in there," his father said, chastising his son. "It's nothing to be ashamed of son, not everyone has book smarts. The tutor will help you develop those skills."

"I...ok." Ulrich admitted defeat with these words.

"Very good. I have a meeting, concentrate on your work." His father hung up without saying goodbye, and Ulrich fell into his chair in a slump. He could barely handle the course load he had now...how would two more classes and a nightly tutoring session fit in?

A light knock on the door echoed in the room, snapping Ulrich out of his thoughts. "It's open," He called, surprised as he did not expect visitors.

Yumi poked her head in, wearing a cheerful smile. "Hey! Want some dinner?"

Ulrich smiled weakly. "What are you doing here?"

"We had leftover takeout at my house, and I figured I'd give some to you." Yumi gave her boyfriend a peck on the cheek before pausing to survey the room, seeing the mess of schoolwork everywhere. "Geez. You've been busy."

Ulrich nodded with a mournful sigh. "You have no idea."

"You know, you really don't need to be taking all these classes," Yumi said gently.

"Not according to my dad," Ulrich muttered darkly, glaring at the floor

Yumi put her arms around him, leaning in to pull Ulrich into a hug. "Did your dad call?" Ulrich nodded, and Yumi sighed with a tsk. "Well whatever he said, he's wrong."

Ulrich laughed. "I'm sure he'd love to hear that."

"Well it's the truth," Yumi said with a teasing grin. "Now, will we eat on the floor?"

The teens set up a mock picnic on the wooden floor of Ulrich's dorm room, spreading napkins to catch the mess that was inevitably created from dripping sauces. Chinese takeout had become a tradition for the couple, sharing fried rice, noodles, and chicken with lots of sweet and sour sauce. As Yumi cleaned the containers and napkins away, Ulrich moved his schoolwork back into his bag so he might be able to sleep in his bed tonight.

"So," Yumi said coyly. "What now?"

Ulrich grinned as they kissed. "I was supposed to workout tonight..."

"Sounds great," Yumi whispered.

"It helps me get rid of stress," Ulrich said.

Yumi pushed her boyfriend back onto his bed before straddling him and removing her shirt. "Ulrich," she said, kissing him seductively before sliding to her knees. "Tonight, I'll be your stress relief." His head hit the mattress as Yumi went to work, and soon they were kissing passionately again, their clothes littering the floor.

"Ready?" Ulrich said, moving on top of his girlfriend.

She bit her lip. "Go."

* * *

 **And that's it for this chapter! We'll check in with Jeremy next time, see how he's doing. For now, leave reviews!**


	15. Good Tidings to All

**Thank you to all the people who read, follow, and review this story. I appreciate every message I receive from you all. Here, let's check in with Jeremy, see how he's doing.**

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Jeremy's mother called, "Dinner!" for the third time, looking up the stairs with a concerned expression. She turned to her husband and threw her hands in the air in frustration. "What are we supposed to do?" she asked desperately.

Her husband sighed and held his head in his hands. "I don't know. I knocked on his door...it's locked as usual. He said he was busy working on something. I don't what it could be though."

"We don't know anything these days," she said as she slid into her seat at the dinner table. Husband and wife began picking at their dinners, eyes darting to the empty seat between them.

"Tomorrow's Christmas Eve," his father said gloomily. "He probably won't show up for that either."

"He has to," his mother said firmly, cutting into her chicken ferociously. "He will be there."

The next day, Jeremy's mother and father stood in the doorway for ten minutes, whispering about whether to wait or not. Finally, his father called, "Jeremy! We're leaving for Mass!" They stood in silence, waiting.

A door creaked open upstairs. "I'm coming," Jeremy called. He walked down the stairs calmly, the picture of perfection. His hair was combed, his face was washed, and he wore pressed khakis with a tastefully cheerful Christmas sweater.

"Jeremy!" his mother exclaimed, pulling her son in for a hug. "I knew you wouldn't miss Mass."

Jeremy smiled sweetly. "Of course not. I'm sorry I've been so distant this past week - I've just been busy working on something. But I figured out what to do."LlHis father grinned as he opened the door for his son and wife. "What was the project on? Something for your science class?"

Jeremy nodded. "Something like that." At the cathedral, Jeremy greeted his grandmothers and great aunts politely, graciously accepting the kisses they bestowed on his cheeks. After Mass, he sat with his cousins at brunch and shared his cake with the youngest children. His parents watched in awe, amazed at his turnaround. It was a Belpois tradition for the whole family to gather for the bestowing of presents. This year the family was going to the home of Jeremy's great-aunt, a sweet woman who baked delicious muffins.

A young cousin tugged at Jeremy's sleeve. "Jeremy, ride in our car! Please?" he whined, staring up at the older boy with pleading eyes.

Jeremy smiled. "Sure, I'll go with you." He glanced at his parents, who nodded in understanding. As they drove along, Jeremy's parents smiled peacefully. His mother's sister sat in the back, and leaned forward to speak quietly.

"He doesn't seem upset," the woman said secretively. "I thought you said Jeremy had been very upset lately."

Jeremy's father frowned at his wife. "You told your sister about that?"

His wife shrugged helplessly at her husband. "She asked how Jeremy was, I didn't want to lie." She turned back to her sister. "Jeremy is doing fine now, he was just busy with schoolwork. You know how he gets when he gets busy."

"Oh, of course!" her sister exclaimed. "I swear, that boy is going to be president one day, he's so smart!" Jeremy's parents chuckled at that. At the great-aunt's house, presents were exchanged, the young cousins jumping on the couches with excitement while Jeremy held the youngest, a toddler only three years old, in his lap. He smiled at the excitement around him, but at times, Jeremy's mother caught him looking melancholy as though lost in thought. But when he noticed her stare, he smiled cheerfully. After Jeremy had received a science kit, two new sweaters, and a plethora of books (most of which he had already read), the family settled in for Christmas dinner, Jeremy's father having received the honor of cutting the roast that year.

"I'm not very hungry," Jeremy said politely. "I had a lot of cookies." His mother frowned, but did not say anything.

That night, Jeremy's father kissed his wife under the mistletoe. She smiled up at him, then frowned and whispered, "I'm worried about Jeremy."

He looked down at her with sorrow. "So am I. He seemed ok today but...something's wrong."

"Should we talk to a counselor?" she asked.

He frowned. "I don't think it's so bad...hopefully having a few more days off of school will get his stress down."

Upstairs, Jeremy typed in his computer rapidly, fingers flying over the keys. Lines of code ran across the page, the word "beta test" running across the top. He pressed "run" and watched the process take place, the images on the screen form pixel by pixel. He grinned, and did a small happy dance.

"It works!" he cried with excitement. "It really works!" He closed the program and moved to another, glancing at the calendar before continuing to type rapidly.

On Christmas morning, Aelita and Ulrich left the dorm at seven sharp, heavy backpacks on their shoulders. They kicked snow away from the path, and admired the snowmen that children had built in their yards.

Aelita commented, "It was nice of Yumi to invite us."

Ulrich nodded. "She said it would be kind of sad for us to spend Christmas in the dorm. Apparently her parents flip for Christmas, even though they're not Christian."

"Then why are they celebrating?" Aelita asked with a frown. "I remember Jeremy told me Christmas is very religious for his family. They go to Mass the day before and the day of, sometimes even the day after for good measure."

"They like the festivities," Ulrich said with a shrug. His statement rang true when they finally reached Yumi's house. Multiple wreaths hung on the gate to her house, with another one hanging on the door. Small statues of Santa Claus decorated the yard, and a Christmas tune emanated softly from the house. Yumi opened the door with a smile to invite them in, and immediately Ulrich and Aelita were assaulted by the smell of cookies. In the living room, Yumi's brother Hiroki watched a Christmas special on TV as his father prodded the Yule log with a poker.

Yumi turned to her friends apologetically. "I have to help my mom in the kitchen. Just put your presents under the tree."

Aelita and Ulrich shrugged their coats off, shaking the snow off their boots. They unloaded presents from their bags and set them under the tree, pausing briefly to admire the ornate decorations that had been put up.

"Cookies are ready!" Yumi's mother called, setting a tray of cookies piled high down on the coffee table.

Hiroki leaned forward in excitement, reaching out for the top cookie. "Awesome!" The chocolate chip cookies were still warm from the oven, and Aelita smiled at the sensation of the warm chocolate chips melting in her mouth with the soft dough mixed in. The whole family sat down in the living room, the Christmas special still playing as Yumi's parents sipped mugs of coffee, the kids all drinking hot chocolate.

Yumi's father announced grandly, "Time for presents!" to which Hiroki cheered. Aelita and Ulrich were surprised to receive presents from Yumi's parents, who sweetly said the kids were practically family by now. At the end of the festivities, Yumi's parents went out with Hiroki to pick up takeout for dinner, leaving the teenagers alone. A holiday jingled crooned in the background as Yumi and Ulrich curled up together on the couch under a blanket. Aelita sat in an old armchair with a mug of hot chocolate, watching the marshmallows slowly melt together.

"This was fun," she commented. "Too bad the others couldn't be here."

Ulrich shrugged, hugging Yumi to him. "Odd will be back in school soon, and who knows what Jeremy is up to."

"Maybe he's transferring," Yumi suggested casually, reaching for another cookie.

Aelita gasped as though horribly insulted. "Don't even suggest that! I'm sure he's upset about the break up...but he wouldn't transfer schools."

Ulrich smiled comfortingly at the distressed girl. "Don't worry about it. It's Christmas after all, right? We should enjoy ourselves." His phone had been stubbornly turned off all day, but Ulrich knew his father must have called. Sometimes you just need a break from your family, he reasoned.

The teenagers relaxed with an old movie for an hour, sipping their hot cocoa and munching the occasional cookie. Ulrich and Yumi jumped when they heard the click of a key turning in their lock, immediately moving to opposite ends of the couch. As Yumi's parents entered into the foyer, Aelita suppressed a giggle at how red her friends' faces had become at the mere idea of being caught snuggling. They sat down to eat, and Ulrich was immediately interrogated by Yumi's father.

"So," the traditional man said. "You are still dating my daughter, yes?"

Yumi rolled her eyes. "Papa! It's not a horrible secret!"

Ulrich gulped his food and nodded nervously at her father. "Yes sir."

Yumi's father nodded. "I see. And how are your studies coming along? Yumi tells us you are taking many classes."

"Not too many," Ulrich said sheepishly. "It's ten classes now, though my dad has me signed up for tutoring and more classes next semester."

"Wait, what?" Yumi frowned. "You didn't tell me that!"

"I've been trying to forget about it," he admitted darkly.

"It is good to push yourself!" Yumi's father declared, waving his chopsticks like a baton. "See what you are capable of, be the best you that you can be!"

The table laughed at his antics, and the dinner mood relaxed from there on. Later that night, Yumi volunteered to walk Aelita and Ulrich back to the dorm, pulling on a heavy coat before joining them in the snowy outdoors. When Ulrich stopped to tie his shoe, Yumi pulled Aelita aside.

"Hey," she whispered furtively. "When we get to the dorm, I'm going to need to get Ulrich alone so I can give him a present."

Aelita blinked. "But you already gave him his present," she said naively. Her eyes widened. "Oh. You meant...oKay. Yeah. I can do that." And so, when the teenagers reached the dorm, Aelita made claims of being tired and walked briskly to her room, leaving Ulrich and Yumi alone.

"You want to warm up in my room before heading back?" Ulrich said to Yumi. She nodded with a smile, and they headed to his room. After peeling off their coats, Yumi fell onto Ulrich's bed with an inviting smile.

"I have one more present for you," she said as he leaned in to kiss her. "Let's make this a Christmas to remember." Half an hour later, Aelita looked out her window to see Yumi sprinting across the campus, obviously running late. She laughed and rolled her eyes, then quieted. Ulrich and Yumi seemed to have a great relationship...where had she and Jeremy gone wrong? Was it not spending enough time together? Their divergent interests? The real distance had begun when she started doing serious gigs for her music. Jeremy had expressed zero interest every time Aelita invited him to a show, and Aelita supposed that she must have seemed very uninterested when he was going on about computers for the millionth time. Maybe that was why he kept his project secret from her for so long.

Opening her phone, Aelita took a moment to think before composing a message. "Merry Christmas," she typed, pausing before pressing send. Jeremy had always loved Christmas...she hoped he had enjoyed this day as much as she did.

In Italy, Odd looked at the stars with a somber expression. His father turned to put an arm around his sun, smiling sympathetically. "You miss your friends, don't you?" he said.

Odd nodded. "Yeah. It's been tough, being forced apart like this."

"Well, I have good news!" His father grinned. "Your mother and I set a deal with the school. You'll have to sign a behavioral contract, and you're forbidden from showing any more films this year, but you'll be allowed back in school and on dorm at the start of the second semester."

"That's great!" Odd said, jumping with excitement. "That's only three weeks away! I'll start packing first thing in the morning!"

Jeremy lay awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling with a dull expression. Another Christmas with the family...sometimes it was nice having a big family. Lots of presents. But when you just wanted to be alone...it sucked. Deciding that sleep wasn't a possibility right now, Jeremy sat up with a disgruntled sigh. He opened his laptop and began typing commands into his program, occasionally checking his notes to get the graphics right. A loud beeping distracted him.

"Who is texting me at midnight," Jeremy muttered to himself, reaching over to grab his phone without taking his eyes off the computer screen.

"One message," his phone read, "from Aelita." Jeremy gulped and opened the message. The rational part of his mind knew that this was probably about her wanting her stuff back, or asking something about school. But his heart soared at the small hope that she wanted to get back together again.

"Merry Christmas," the message read. Jeremy stared at the phone incredulously.

"What does that mean?" he muttered to himself. He started to type a message back, then stopped. She probably didn't want to hear from him. She was probably only texting him to be nice. Or maybe it was a prank, just to hurt him. Jeremy shook his head in disgust and pushed the phone away. This program was his only focus now. And soon, it would be all he ever needed.

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 **An ominous end to a peaceful chapter. I thought the story could use a break from all the drama, just for a chapter. Leave reviews!**


	16. Music to My Ears

**New chapter! Updates might slow down in the future but I'll try to stay consistent. Enjoy!**

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Yumi lounged on Aelita's bed, watching her friend pack a suitcase. "So," Yumi said conversationally. "One more gig before school starts again?"

Aelita nodded as she compared two sweaters. "Yeah. It was good to have a break for the holidays, but when Adam heard that this club had an open slot for New Years Eve..."

"You had to take it," Yumi grinned as she finished her friend's sentence. "It sucks that you'll be away for three days though. It'll be quiet around here without you."

Aelita rolled her eyes. "You and Ulrich are the ones keeping this place from being quiet, you know."

"What?" Yumi blushed. "You don't mean..."

"Every time," Aelita said, raising an eyebrow at her friend before putting on a false voice, crying, "Oh Ulrich! Yes! Oh, I love you! More!"

Yumi buried her face in her hands. "Oh my God...that means anyone could have heard."

Aelita waved a hand of dismissal. "Sissi is the only other student around, and she's not directly below his room like I am."

"Sorry," Yumi muttered with a blush. "I didn't realize..."

"It's fine!" Aelita paused to hug her friend quickly. "I have my headphones on most of the time anyway, I only heard the noise a few days ago."

Yumi blushed. "We'll try to keep it down."

"I'd appreciate that." Aelita turned back to her wardrobe, selecting outfits with care before folding them delicately. "Anyway, things seem pretty good with you guys."

"Yeah, though we haven't had a proper date since we started having sex." Yumi turned to her friend. "Is that a bad thing?"

Aelita shrugged. "I'm not exactly an expert on relationships, but balance is important. If you want to have a date night, just say so."

"I will," Yumi smiled. "I wish we could come to this music festival with you...too bad it's in Berlin."

"You're telling me," Aelita groaned. "We're driving the whole way there, a full six and half hours in the car."

"That sucks," Yumi commented. "Bring me back a souvenir though."

"I will," Aelita promised. The conversation lulled as Aelita packed and Yumi texted on her phone. Aelita casually commented, "I can't believe winter break is almost over."

"Time to get serious about college stuff," Yumi said gloomily. "I've already applied to a few places, but I need to go interview."

"You'll do great," Aelita reassured her friend. Her phone beeped, and Aelita quickly typed a message. "Adam is outside, I have to go. I'll talk to you later, ok?" The girls hugged, and Aelita sprinted outside to where Adam's car was waiting, dragging her suitcase behind her. The tall manager helped Aelita load her suitcase into the back, then went through his usual list as she got herself situated in the car.

"Clothes?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Check!"

"CDs?"

"Yup."

"Makeup? Hair goo?"

"It's not...yeah. Check."

"Gig bag?"

"Got it."

"Seatbelt?"

"Yes, now let's go!"

The car sped off, and Yumi waved at it half heartedly from the window of Aelita's room. Yumi looked over to see Sissi also leaving the campus, most likely to go shopping. That meant the dorm was empty. Yumi crept upstairs and knocked on Ulrich's door quietly, only to hear no response. She knocked again, then decided to text him.

"I'm in the library," his message read. Yumi grinned and ran to the library, her long coat flying out behind her. Pushing open the great oak doors of the building, Yumi immediately spotted Ulrich. He had spread his work out over multiple tables that formed an island in the middle of the shelves. Yumi watched as Ulrich darted from table to table, multitasking grandly and pausing only to take a sip from a large canned energy drink.

"Want to take a study break?" Yumi called to her boyfriend.

He grinned when he spotted her, but still shook his head. "There's only three days left in break, I have to knuckle down."

Yumi frowned with disappointment. "Oh. Ok."

"I'll make it up to you," Ulrich called over his shoulder as he added more pieces to the large diorama for his biology project.

"How about a date?" Yumi asked, stepping closer but still staying out of the workspace. "A night on the town, just the two of us. I'll plan it all."

Ulrich paused to smile at his girlfriend, walking over to where she stood. "Sounds fantastic," he said before leaning in to capture her lips with his own. "I have to get back to work, but whenever you plan that date for, I'm yours."

Smiling, Yumi left the library and headed home deep in thought. She usually didn't plan their dates, and this date should be special. Across the country, Aelita struggled to stay awake as Adam went over their itinerary for the trip. Long car trips always put her to sleep, and Adam's droning voice did not help her situation.

"After the show in Berlin," Adam said, eyes focused on the road as he spoke. "We'll meet with a director to go over the basics of your music video. We're going to do Plugged In, it tested best. You and the director can go over ideas and put together some storyboards, then in a couple weeks we'll meet with him at the company studio to do the filming. Did you ask your friend about singing in the video?"

Aelita suppressed a yawn. "Uh, yeah," she said. "Yumi can do it."

"Good," Adam said, smiling at the road. "We're making good time, we should be in Berlin by sun down. We can grab some dinner before your show."

She nodded tiredly. "that would be good."

Adam reached over to pat Aelita's shoulder comfortingly. "It's a tough schedule, I know. Try to get some sleep now, I'll keep my music quiet."

Aelita smiled gratefully. "Thanks." She leaned a pillow against the window and promptly passed out. Adam turned on his rock music, keeping it quiet as promised until they reached Berlin. He reached over to shake Aelita gently as they entered the city.

"I'm awake," Aelita said groggily, stretching her arms out. "Are we at the hotel?"

"Not yet," Adam admitted. "But we'll stop for dinner before doing that. Don't want you passing out in your hotel room when you're supposed to be getting dressed, right?"

Aelita chuckled. "We shall not speak of that time." Once over the summer, Adam had walked into Aelita's hotel room to find her sprawled on her bed fast asleep, jeans halfway up her legs. It had been very awkward, but now they could laugh at the silliness of it.

In the restaurant, Aelita devoured her food as Adam typed messages on his phone. He closed his phone and turned to his charge with a grin. "The club said you'll be listed as one of their headliners today, your name in lights and everything."

"That's great," Aelita said. "Will you be passing out business cards as usual?"

Adam nodded, and fished a card out of his pocket to give to Aelita. "I changed the design so it includes a picture of you on the back. Makes you more recognizable." The photo showed Aelita working a mix table at a club, her hair flying around the headphones that were wrapped around her neck. Lights shone brightly in the background, giving her an angelic appearance.

"This is fantastic," Aelita said in wonder. "Really, it's fantastic."

"Why thank you," Adam said with a smile. "Now finish up, we need to get going."

Less than an hour later, Aelita strode onstage with a broad grin, the tassels of her jacket dangling freely. "Hello, Berlin!" she announced into the microphone. "Let's have some fun!" The mix began, and people nodded their heads appreciatively as they danced. Aelita spotted Adam hanging by the bar, handing business cards out with a charismatic grin. It was tough to be on such a busy schedule, but she loved it. Plus, Adam would never push her too hard. He knew school came first.

After the show, Adam and Aelita took a taxi back to the hotel. He showed her the pictures she had taken, including one of her dancing with the owner of the club. Before she passed out in her bed that night, Aelita opened her phone to respond to a text from Yumi.

"What's a good date idea?" Yumi's message read.

"I don't know," Aelita replied tiredly. "Food?" She fell asleep promptly after that.

The next morning, Yumi woke to see the message from Aelita. "Well that's no help," Yumi muttered in frustration. She had jotted down notes last night, but still had nothing good. She would probably end up taking Ulrich to dinner and a movie, as cliche as it was. Yumi sent a text to Ulrich about the plan for tonight, and he immediately replied.

"Sounds good," Ulrich typed quickly before turning back to his math project. He had accidentally fallen asleep in the library last night, and woken up to realize that he had mangled a major calculation the day before. As much as he hated to admit it, Ulrich knew he was in over his head. He had always worked out in the gym when he was stressed, but now there was no time for that. But being with Yumi always got his mind off the tensions of daily life.

"Working hard?" a soft voice floated through the library. Ulrich turned to see Sissi leaning against a bookshelf casually, her hair pulled up in a messy ponytail.

Ulrich groaned softly. "Sissi, what do you want? I'm busy."

"You seem stressed," Sissi cooed, stepping closer to him. "Anyway I could help?"

"You could start by leaving me alone," Ulrich grumbled, turning back to his work.

Small hands began rubbing at his shoulders. "You know," Sissi said, "I give great massages."

Ulrich whipped around to glare at the girl. "Don't you ever lay off? I wasn't interested in you when we were twelve, and I'm not interested in you now!" He ran his fingers through his hair with irritation, cursing quietly under his breath. "I'm busy, can't you bug me some other time?"

"You know Ulrich," Sissi said slowly. "You can be very rude sometimes."

He blinked as a sarcastic grin came over his face. "It's a miracle! It learns!" He clapped his hands mockingly before scowling at Sissi.

She rolled her eyes and took a step closer. "Just remember, Ulrich - I hold the cards in this relationship. Imagine if I told the dean what you and Yumi have been up to every day during this winter break? That wouldn't go over well, now would it?"

Ulrich took a slow breath, hissing at Sissi's simpering face, "What do you want?"

"Be my study buddy," Sissi said with a sly smile. "I've heard you're good at math, and I'm failing the class. Help me out for a month or two, and I won't tell."

"Fine," Ulrich said quickly. Better she ask for some tutoring than money or a date. "When and where?"

Sissi blinked in surprise. "Oh, uh...Wednesday at seven?"

He nodded curtly. "Done. Now I really need to get this done, can you leave?"

That night, a heavy snowstorm hit the city. Yumi and Ulrich agreed to postpone their date, and settled instead for a long chat on the phone instead.

"That's horrible!" Yumi exclaimed, her voice echoing out of the speaker of Ulrich's cell. "How can she blackmail you like that?"

"She knows too much," Ulrich groaned.

"Her too?" Yumi said, her voice a mere whisper. "Geez, we must be really loud."

Ulrich frowned at the phone. "What are you talking about?"

In her room at home, Yumi blushed and lowered her voice. "Um...Aelita told me that apparently we're a little, uh, loud. As in, she could hear us from her room."

Ulrich turned bright red. "Oh. Well. We will have to work on being quieter."

"Agreed," Yumi said. "Plus, I'm assuming we won't be able to hook up as much when school starts up again. Odd is coming back, right?"

"At the start of second semester," Ulrich said. "So two weeks after break. I haven't heard from him much, so I'm sure he'll have plenty of stories to regale us with."

Yumi laughed. "I'm sure it'll be great." There was a pause on her end, then she continued speaking. "I have to go to sleep, my parents are already yelling complaints."

"Aww," Ulrich pouted teasingly even though he knew she couldn't see him. "Well, sleep well."

"You go to sleep too!" she said. "You need to catch up. Besides, I want you energetic for our date tomorrow."

He grinned slyly. "Are you saying I haven't been energetic enough for you?"

Yumi blushed and groaned at the underlying joke. "Oh, go to sleep. Perv."

"Love you too, Yumi."

* * *

 **A cute end to an important chapter. That stuff with Sissi will be important to the plot later, you'll see. Leave reviews!**


	17. Focus

**The story is about to get a lot more intense, real fast. This chapter will focus mainly on Ulrich. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Two more classes?" the college counselor almost fell out of her chair. "And tutoring? Sir, I'm not one to hold students back, but this, this is too much!"

"I'm sure we can work something out," Ulrich's father said patiently. He was a tall, broad man whose grey business suit only made him appear larger. Although tall, Ulrich found himself shrinking next to his father.

The college counselor shook her head. "Ulrich is a very smart boy, and he has been handling his already enormous workload very well...but frankly, this is ridiculous. He's a junior, he doesn't need all these classes. And he is already incredibly well rounded."

Mr. Stern frowned. "Ah yes, he was signed up for basketball? Cancel that. And cancel the Japanese culture club. He needs to focus on his grades more, they're slipping."

Ulrich felt his eyes grow hot and wet, and the counselor turned to him. "Ulrich," she said gently. "Is this what you want?"

He took a breath and blinked rapidly to clear his eyes. "Sure," he said. "I can handle it."

"That wasn't the question…" the counselor paused when she noticed the angry expression on Mr. Stern's face. "Fine," she said, making notes on her computer. "I'll make the changes. Twelve classes, with only Debate and Model U.N. as electives."

"Very good," the businessman stood and shook the counselor's hand firmly. "I'll be going now. Ulrich, keep your grades up." He left without another word.

Ulrich turned to leave, only to be stopped by the counselor. "Ulrich," she called. "Are you sure you can handle all this?"

He nodded slowly, not looking at her. "Yeah. I can do it."

The lunchroom was filled with kids chatting over croissants, hot chocolate, coffee, and other breakfast treats. Aelita smiled at Ulrich as he slid into the chair next to her at the breakfast table. "Hey! Sleep okay?" she asked sweetly.

He shrugged and began gulping down coffee.

Yumi frowned as she sat across from her boyfriend. "You don't look so great," she said quietly, and reached across the table to squeeze his hand. "Maybe you need another day off?"

Ulrich shook his head. "I'm fine. Just had an early morning meeting with the counselor. My dad wanted to ensure that schedule changes were made...let's just say it wasn't fun."

"I've never met your father," Aelita said in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I imagine him tall and foreboding, maybe with a long black cape, or fangs."

He laughed. "Consider yourself lucky that you haven't been introduced."

Yumi frowned. "Come to think of it, I've never met him before. I've seen him, but we've never been introduced. Has he met any of your friends?"

"No," Ulrich said, taking another sip of coffee. "He doesn't ask about my friends."

Aelita laughed. "Of course, because friends aren't important to the college process. I'm sure you've told him about Yumi though."

Ulrich paused. "You know," he mused. "I don't think it's ever come up."

Yumi groaned. "I'm not even mad. I have a feeling that if he did know we were dating, he'd tell you to break up with me so you could focus on your homework more."

He lifted her hand to his lips and gave it a kiss. "Even if he did, I'd never do it." She blushed, and Aelita rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to class," Aelita announced, standing to go. "Have fun, lovebirds." As much as she enjoyed seeing her friends happy, it still made her feel lonely. Even when she and Jeremy hadn't been talking, it was still a small comfort to know that she had someone who loved her and thought she was beautiful. Aelita entered her Danish classroom in a somber mood. The seat next to her was empty, as Odd was still suspended. Having a couple as your only close friends could get lonely. As Aelita walked to her next class, Sissi fell in step with her.

"Poor Mrs. Einstein," Sissi giggled. "Or is it Miss Einstein now, since you two broke up?"

"I'm really not in the mood, Sissi."

"Tell me, Aelita - who broke up with who? Did you get sick of his ugly nerd glasses bumping you every time you kissed, or did he think he had a chance with the senior girls he tutors? Because let's be honest, you were always much too good for him. I don't know what you see in him. Yeah, he's smart. But really, Jeremy has absolutely nothing going for him! He's not attractive, he's not funny, he doesn't dress well...he's hopeless!"

Sissi was shocked when she found herself shoved against the wall. Aelita had pushed her arm out to launch the annoying girl away from her, and now stood glaring at the brunette with narrowed eyes. "Just shut your mouth," Aelita growled. "No one wants to hear your airhead opinions. So just shut up, because you don't know anything."

Aelita stalked away in a huff, hearing Sissi exclaiming, "Well I never!" to their classmates.

Jeremy watched the whole scene from behind a nearby tree. Aelita had always tolerated Sissi better than the rest of them, using Odd's strategy of combating her nastiness with humorous teasing. Jeremy had never really dealt with Sissi at all, as he usually escaped her criticisms. He shook his head in wonder before turning back to his laptop - only a few more tests, and he would be ready to move onto stage two.

The last two weeks of the semester passed peacefully. Jeremy avoided his former friends so well that they began to wonder if he had transferred like Sam had. The gossip about her had died down, mainly because Yumi, Ulrich, and Aelita had stubbornly defended her any time someone brought the movie incident up. The only thorn in their sides right now was Sissi. Every day she nagged Ulrich about their tutoring, and every day he told her the same thing.

"After midterms," he said tiredly. Sissi crossed her arms stubbornly, her shadow looming over his desk in the library.

Sissi glared at Ulrich fiercely. "Ulrich, you said you would tutor me! Midterms are next week, how am I supposed to improve if you don't tutor me? Or have you forgotten our agreement?"

Ulrich's head hit the desk. "Fine," he mumbled. "Today is Wednesday, right?"

She nodded like an eager dog. "It is!"

"Okay...I'll come by at eight. Have your math books ready to go, I don't have the text for algebra." How a high school junior was still in the lowest levels of basic algebra, he didn't know, but it would make for every easy tutoring.

Sissi clapped her hands with glee. "Great! I'll have everything ready to go!" She flounced away and Ulrich groaned, slumping further down in his chair. He would be working through dinner, it seemed.

He stood outside the dorm room with the face of a soldier being put on the front lines. Three knocks, and Sissi opened the door with a grin that quickly flipped into a critical frown. "Wow," she laughed. "You look terrible."

Ulrich growled as he walked into the dorm room. Yes, his hair hadn't been combed or washed today. And yes, he was running on four hours of sleep and three cups of coffee. But he would push through this, dammit. "Are we doing algebra or not?"

Sissi nodded frantically and dashed to her cluttered desk. "Look, I got my text book out and everything!"

"Cool," Ulrich drawled, utterly unimpressed. He sat down on Sissi's bed and had a split second of wishing he could just take a nap right there...but he had homework to finish after this. Sissi darted around the room with way too much energy for his taste, grabbing pencils, a calculator with doodles drawn all over it, and an abused graph paper notebook. She sat next to him with bright eyes, and flipped through pages of doodles in her notebook. Obviously this girl did nothing in class.

"So," Ulrich said, beginning to thumb through the untouched text book. "Where should we start?"

"I was thinking graphs." Sissi pointed at a simple example problem in the text. "What's an axis? And what's x on the graph?"

Ulrich felt an ache of deep disappointment in his chest. It would be a long night. "Well," he said with strained patience, "The axis is the line. The x axis is the horizontal one, and the y axis is the vertical one. Look, they even have them labeled in the picture. The x is any of the numbers on the x axis - you apply the equation to the x to find the y, then match up the x and y to get the coordinate. Does that make sense?"

Sissi frowned, started to speak, then paused. "No," she said slowly. Ulrich looked at her in distress, unsure if he could simplify the concept further. "But," Sissi said encouragingly, standing to open her dresser. "I think I know what will help."

"Coffee?" Ulrich suggested jokingly.

She laughed sarcastically. "Uh, no. That stuff makes you fat. Everything makes you fat. Except pills. And these pills always help me study before exams." Sissi pulled a small plastic bag out from under a pile of clothes and held it up so Ulrich could see. A large amount of crushed pills lay inside.

Ulrich's eyes widened. "Drugs? Sissi, is that cocaine?"

"It's Adderall, calm down." Sissi sat down on the bed next to him. "I got a doctor to prescribe these for ADD - I just faked it in the office and paid a therapist to lie for me!"

"Why do you have so much?" Ulrich asked tentatively.

Sissi shrugged. "I mean, Adderall isn't fun if you take it all the time. So I take it when I really need to study, then save the haul for big stuff like exams." She smiled coyly. "Want some?"

Ulrich shook his head. "No way."

"What, you'd rather stick with coffee?" Sissi asked. "That stuff just keeps you awake and makes you have to pee a bunch. Adderall never has any bad side effects, trust me. It's called a 'study drug' for a reason."

He paused, then sighed in defeat. "Just this once," he said grimly as she poured a small amount of powder on the desk. She had an experienced touch, Ulrich thought, as she rolled a piece of paper into a tube. Sissi leaned down to snort the powder into her nose, and Ulrich watched with fascination as her face split into a grin.

"Here," she said, handing him the rolled up paper before pouring another pile of crushed adderall onto the table. Ulrich took a breath, then leaned down and quickly inhaled the drug. It burned his nose and he almost stopped, then kept going until it was all inside.

He sat back and blinked rapidly, attempting to adjust to the sensations. "Um...that hurt."

Sissi shrugged as she began putting her supplies away. "You get used to it. But you can't do it too much, or you get nose bleeds."

Ulrich "I don't feel anything."

She rolled her eyes. "Well yeah. Give it some time. Now back to algebra, I kinda don't want to be held back."

Hours later, Ulrich and Sissi had covered a wall of her dorm room with meticulously drawn diagrams. Each diagram was paired with a graph, an equation, and an explanation of how the equation worked. They spoke rapidly, bouncing notes and facts off each other in random order.

"How do you factor?" Ulrich asked urgently.

Sissi grinned clapped her hands. "Divide both sides by a, find the square...I get it!"

Music was blasting. They had started to get tired and decided at one point that playing music at the loudest volume possible would keep them awake...a few people had already knocked on the door to ask them to turn it down. Somehow, Ulrich found the beats in the music translating perfectly to algebra. Sissi was now jumping on the bed as she stared at the diagrams with intense focus. They had done an amazing amount of work, Ulrich mused. He had assumed this would be an hour of Sissi being dumb and annoying, but instead he was having the most fun he had had all week.

"Ulrich!" Sissi yelled to be heard over the music. "We need to do quadratics next week!" She jumped off the bed and mussed his hair with a playful smile that he returned.

They high fived. Ulrich glanced at his watch and jumped. "Shit!" he yelled. "It's almost midnight!" Sissi laughed at his antics. Ulrich shoved his notes into his backpack and moved to leave. "Gotta do homework. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye."

Once back in his dorm room, Ulrich shoved everything off the desk to create space for him to settle down and work. In less than two hours, his work was done. He even had time to do some early studying for midterms. Feeling drained and exhausted, he climbed into bed and passed out, the fatigue finally hitting him.

The next day, Yumi found Aelita surrounded by notebooks and binders at the breakfast table, scribbling madly between bites of croissant. Yumi gently moved a notebook to sit across from Aelita, craning her neck to read the pages. They were pages of music, she discovered, with notes scribbled in the margins.

"What's all this?" Yumi asked casually, sipping her drink. "Adam have you doing homework now?"

"Sort of," Aelita muttered. She spoke quickly, with a surprising amount of energy. "We're making a music video for one of my songs in a couple weeks. I'm meeting with the director this weekend to go over the storyboard and costumes and such, then the weekend after that we'll be making the video. I just woke up with all these ideas...so I'm trying to get it all down. Plus I might want to change the song a bit."

Yumi nodded with a grin. "It's really cool that you're doing all this, you know. Do you still want me to do backup vocals?"

"God yes," Aelita said, returning to her notes. "The song is really supposed to have two voices going at the same time, but it would be weird to have two versions of my voice overlapping."

"I just hope I'm good enough," Yumi said shyly.

Aelita paused to roll her eyes at her friend. "You're a great singer and you know it."

Yumi blushed. "Yeah, well...anyway. Where's Ulrich?"

"Haven't seen him."

"Hmm." Yumi looked out the window to spot a tired figure making his way to the lunchroom slowly, his movements sluggish from fatigue. Ulrich yawned loudly as he ordered his food, and wondered if he should have stayed in bed. He sat down next to his girlfriend and greeted her with a quick peck on the lips.

"Hey," he croaked out. "Sleep okay?"

Yumi frowned at him. "I should be asking you that...did you sleep at all?"

Ulrich frowned thoughtfully, needing to think. "Yes...yes, I think I did."

"You think?" Yumi began to look worried, and Ulrich laughed nervously to calm her.

"I slept!" he chuckled. "I actually slept more than I have in a while. Not sure why I'm so tired."

Across the room, Sissi yawned and stretched loudly. There were shadows under her eyes, but she appeared to be in a good mood. She winked at Ulrich, who laughed shakily at her. Yumi frowned.

"Is there something I should know?" she asked tensely.

Ulrich paused. "No, we just did some math tutoring last night...nothing happened."

Even Aelita seemed suspicious. "Why do you say that?" Aelita asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because nothing happened!" Ulrich's voice rose an octave. "We just went to her dorm room and studied! Lots of math! Diagrams!"

"You went to her dorm room?" Yumi raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms sternly. "Why did you go to her dorm room?"

A boy in Ulrich's grade walked by and patted him on the back with a grin. "Dude!" the guy cried. "You and Sissi were rocking the whole dorm, you know that?"

Aelita's eyes bugged out as Yumi's jaw dropped. "Aelita," Yumi said with a glare in Ulrich's direction. "We're leaving."

"Oh yes," Aelita shook her head at Ulrich. "Something smells a bit fishy over here." Ulrich struggled to find an explanation and drew a blank.

"But...it's not like that!" Ulrich cried helplessly. "There was math!" His fatigue was affecting his ability to think clearly. Outside, Yumi and Aelita walked away from the lunchroom as fast as they could, both appearing quite angry.

"I thought we were past this silliness with Sissi," Yumi growled. "But apparently not!"

Aelita frowned. "What did that guy mean by 'rocking the dorm,' do you think?"

"I can think of a few things," Yumi muttered.

The other girl blushed. "I was thinking more along the lines of music...there were a lot of noise complaints last night because someone was playing their stereo too loudly."

Yumi shook her head fiercely. "That could have been anyone. Maybe they were screwing and shaking the walls! It could mean anything, what that guy said."

Aelita felt her face burn more. "Um...let's not jump to conclusions."

Yumi's mind felt clouded and angry. Tears began to shine in her eyes. "I just can't believe he'd do this to me."

"But we don't know what he did, if anything!" Aelita said desperately, placing a gentle hand on her friend's arm. "Yumi, you're hysterical. Try to calm down."

"I am not hysterical!" Yumi snapped, and tore away from her friend. It was all too much, today. She felt like she was going to cry, and wondered how she had gone from anger to despair so quickly. Usually she didn't get this hormonal till her period hit. Back in the lunchroom, Ulrich picked quietly at his breakfast, suddenly devoid of hunger.

"Ouch," Sissi's voice echoed from above him. Ulrich looked up to see the brunette leaning against the table flirtatiously. "I take it your girlfriend didn't approve of our fun last night?"

"Not the time, Sissi," Ulrich groaned, turning to stare out the window at Yumi's retreating figure.

Sissi glared at the boy next to her, then took a breath to calm herself. With a sweet voice, Sissi cooed, "You figure things out with Yumi, Ulrich dear. Just remember you're tutoring me again next week. I'm going to hold you to our deal."

Ulrich regarded the devilish brunette leave with a wary look. As she sauntered away, he let his head fall to the table in defeat. "I am so screwed," he muttered.

* * *

 **I do not recommend abusing prescription drugs, but their use is important to the plot of this story. Next chapter is coming soon! Leave reviews!**


	18. Give Me More

**This was one of my favorite chapters to write. Enjoy!**

* * *

It had been three days, and Yumi still wasn't talking to him. Ulrich looked out the window with a mournful sigh, hoping to catch her rounding the corner outside. The logical part of his brain told him that it was too late for her to still be at school, that she was probably home by now, but he still wanted to see her. Yumi had avoided him with expert skill over the last few days, and it was driving Ulrich insane. Sometimes when he left class, he would think he saw her disappearing into a building, but he never managed to catch her.

"Ahem," the girl next to him coughed delicately. Ulrich turned to regard Sissi with a guarded expression. She had called him in for another study session, and he didn't have much choice in the matter, did he?

"Sorry," Ulrich muttered.

Sissi rolled her eyes. "Could you stop moping about your girlfriend for two minutes, please? It's getting depressing."

He nodded, too tired to argue. "I'm just having trouble concentrating. I've got a lot going on."

Sissi paused. "Do you...want to talk about it?" she asked awkwardly.

Ulrich shrugged, studying her textbook half-heartedly. "What's there to say? I'm taking way too many classes, barely keeping my grades up, my dad is stressing me out, and to top it all off, Yumi is mad at me."

"She's too demanding," Sissi said. Ulrich frowned, and Sissi held her hands up defensively. "I'm just saying. You take a bit of Adderall and she freaks out? She's more of a drama queen then I am."

He shook his head. "She doesn't know about that...some guy said we were 'rocking the dorm' in front of her and she assumed we were hooking up."

"Oh." Sissi blushed. "Well, hopefully that's not a rumor now."

Ulrich raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I'd think you'd approve. You're usually the one starting rumors like that."

"Please," Sissi rolled her eyes. "I gave up on dating you a while ago - it's just fun to tease you and Yumi. But, I have my eye on someone, and it might hurt my chances if he thinks I'm screwing you."

"Then what do we do?" Ulrich asked.

Sissi paused to think. "I'll talk to Yumi, and get my friends to be ready to stop any rumors."

"I'd appreciate that," Ulrich said honestly. "Now, how about we work on algebra?"

"Sounds good," Sissi said. She sat down at the desk and started looking over her notes. "I'm still a little unclear on factoring...sometimes it gets really messy."

Ulrich looked around the room with a forcibly casual attitude. "So...you're not having any trouble concentrating?"

She shook her head. "No, I took a nap earlier so I'm good to go."

"Oh." Strangely, Ulrich felt a bit disappointed.

Sissi raised an eyebrow at Ulrich. "What, you want more Adderall?"

He shrugged awkwardly, scratching his head and refusing to look at her. "I mean, it couldn't hurt."

"Whatever," Sissi said, standing to get the bag. "It's not like I'm running out any time soon." She poured a small amount of the powder on the desk and handed the roll of paper to Ulrich, who quickly snorted it up into his nose. A sensation of euphoria hit him quickly, and he gasped as though emerging from a satisfying shower.

"Better," he said with a smile. "Now, on to math."

Yumi walked across the campus quickly, going past the dining hall without pause. She had been eating breakfast at home for the past few days, not wanting to run into Ulrich any more than she had to. He hadn't even sent her a text.

"He better not be breaking up with me," she grumbled. Her emotions had been erratic at best for the last few days. One minute she was angry and seconds away from finding Ulrich to yell at him, then suddenly she would become sad and depressed. She would wonder why he even found her attractive, and think how it was no wonder that he had turned to Sissi. Aelita had been away on a business trip with her manager, leaving Yumi alone with her thoughts.

"Yumi!" a high pitched voice called to her. Yumi turned to see Sissi waving from outside the dining room. Before she could turn away, Sissi had run up to meet her on the path.

"Are you here to gloat?" Yumi asked in the nastiest voice she could muster. "Because I'm really not in the mood."

Sissi rolled her eyes. "You are stubborn as mule, you know that? Anyway, I'm here to tell you that nothing happened with Ulrich and me."

"Oh yeah?" Yumi crossed her arms and glared. "Then what was all the 'rocking the dorm' talk about?"

"Ever heard of music?" Sissi asked with an eye roll, returning Yumi's glare. "We got bored and turned the stereo on."

Yumi felt a swell of guilt bloom inside her. Aelita had been right...she eyed Sissi distrustfully. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because," Sissi said, her eyes completely free of hostility. "If I did hook up with Ulrich, I'd be rubbing it in your face, not trying to deny it."

"That...that is true." Yumi looked at the ground in shame. "Ulrich must think I'm pretty ridiculous."

Sissi rolled her eyes once more before turning to leave. "Oh, please. That boy is crazy about you and you know it."

From the window of his dorm room, Jeremy watched Sissi walk away from Yumi and then send a flirtatious wink in the direction of...Nicholas? Jeremy chuckled to himself. The slow witted boy had grown into a very handsome young man, but he was still dumb as a bag of rocks. Jeremy turned back to his laptop to see his reflection staring back at him. Of his former friends, Jeremy had changed the least. Same bowl cut with floppy hair, same khakis and sweaters...he hadn't even bothered to get a new style of glasses.

"Just another waste of space," he muttered, staring at his reflection with a blank expression. He was having more of these moments, moments of spacing out and getting lost in thought. With a small sigh, Jeremy opened his video diary and pressed the button to start recording. Jeremy took a breath to steady himself and pushed a lock of hair out of his eyes - he was overdue for a haircut, it seemed.

"Day...I don't know. It's Tuesday, I think. Maybe Wednesday. January. Midterms are this week. I might not go. I've always considered exams a waste of time. Hypocritical, I know. For years I always chastised my friends about needing to study, when I wanted more than anything to sympathize. It was just too easy. I almost never studied. Odd was always goofing off, Ulrich was too rebellious to care, and Aelita..." Jeremy paused to wipe his eyes, feeling a sudden stinging sensation in them. He cleared his throat and continued. "I'm not even angry at them anymore. I miss them, but it doesn't feel right to attempt a reconciliation when I'm so close. Maybe I should say goodbye, just to make it final."

Jeremy stopped the recording. It was incredible that he had accomplished so much in the last month. Every time his parents called, he put on his happy voice and told them that everything was fine, his classes were going well, and everything was great. They didn't need to know that he had been faking a stomach flu for the last few days to avoid going to class, or that he was failing every subject due to lack of attendance.

It had been his last day at home for winter break when they asked the dreaded question.

"So, Jeremy," his mother had said as she spooned more potatoes onto his plate. "How is Aelita?"

Jeremy froze as his father laughed jovially, not noticing the panic in his son's eyes. "I want to spoil her more!" his father said teasingly. After finding out she was an orphan years ago, his parents had treated her like a second child. They had doted on Aelita when she visited for Christmas the year before, and had been broken hearted when Jeremy told them she wouldn't be staying with them for the summer as she usually did.

"We broke up," Jeremy said, his voice hollow and distant. His parents stared at him in barely concealed shock.

His father sputtered, "But why? And why didn't you tell us? When did this happen? Why?!"

"Honey," his mother said quietly, placing a hand on her husband to settle him. "This is Jeremy's heartbreak, not ours."

Jeremy's father pouted. Jeremy stared at his plate in a stupor as the painful emotions rushed back to him. He still had the box of everything she had given back to him...he supposed that he would have to do the same at one point. After returning to school after winter break, Jeremy had dedicated an entire Saturday to cleaning his room of Aelita, and thus cleaning his life of her as well.

But then he found all the mixtapes she had made him, and listened to them for the first time in almost a year. He used to listen to these all the time, they would put them on in the background during study dates and laugh about their differing music tastes. He found his old notebooks, and all the conversations he and Aelita had scribbled out during class. Most of it was just silly kid stuff, but his heart ached when he saw "I love you" written in the pink ink of Aelita's pen. It had been two months, and the wounds still felt fresh. After reading the notes and fighting the urge to cry, Jeremy skimmed his bookshelf to find books she had lent him. Everything found its place in a beaten cardboard box. It was strange, looking down to see every physical piece of their relationship fitting neatly into an old shoe box like that.

Jeremy slid the box under his bed and returned to the computer. He would give the box to Aelita once his work was done. Then it would truly be over.

That night, Ulrich kissed his girlfriend's head and held her close, revelling in the warmth under his blankets. They had never had makeup sex before, but after this last experience, he thought he might be addicted. It was hard and passionate, letting out days of aggression and angst, but then it became slow and romantic, appreciating the happiness they felt at being together again. When Yumi had kissed him, Ulrich felt himself wanting to hold her forever, looking at her beautiful smile.

Their conversation that afternoon had begun awkwardly, as Yumi seemed uncharacteristically flustered and insecure. She had apologized profusely until he kissed her, unable to contain his joy at her being back. That kiss had led to another, and suddenly they were in his dorm room and their clothes were on the floor somewhere.

As much as Ulrich missed Odd, it had been very nice having the room to himself for the last couple months. Sometimes, Yumi would surprise him by waiting in his room, nude and ready for a romantic night. It made them feel like they were grown up, having their own private love nest.

"Hey," Yumi whispered. She began kissing his neck, and moved to straddle him, her gorgeous body on full display for him. "Round two?"

Ulrich grinned and slowly stroked his hand from her shoulder to her hip, appreciating every curve he encountered along the way. "Of course," he said.

The door slammed open, and a duffel bag flew past Yumi's head. She and Ulrich froze, staring in horror as Odd slid into the room, crying, "Honey, I'm home!" in a grand proclamation. "Did you miss me, honey - OH MY GOD!" he screamed and attempted to shield his eyes from the sight before him. "I'll, I'll go!" he yelled, attempting to back out of the room. Yumi covered her chest with a horrified expression, Ulrich still trapped underneath her. Odd backed into his bed and tripped, forced to open his eyes so he could stumble out of the room and slam the door behind him.

Yumi's face was bright red as she burrowed under the blankets to curl into a fetal position. Ulrich sat up and held his face in his hands, muttering, "No Odd, no," to himself. Running down the stairwell to get some fresh air, Odd almost collided with Aelita.

"Odd!" she cried brightly. "You're back! We should tell Ulrich and Yumi!"

"THEY ALREADY KNOW," he yelled, continuing to run down the steps as fast as he could, the image of Yumi and Ulrich burned into his memory forever. Aelita stared after Odd in confusion as he stumbled down the stairwell anxiously.

Back in his room, Ulrich began to awkwardly pat Yumi on the back as she curled up in a ball, refusing to show her face to the world. "Well," Ulrich said encouragingly. "At least Odd is back."

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 **That last part always makes me crack up. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, it's all leading up to big stuff. Leave reviews!**


	19. Still Our Friend

**First update in a long time! I've been super busy with school these last few months, but hopefully things will stay calm enough for me to get back to uploading. This chapter is sort of the calm before the storm...enjoy!**

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At breakfast the next day, Ulrich and Yumi stared at their food with intense focus, their faces still bright red. Lucky for them, Odd and Aelita more than made up for the couple's silence. Odd wanted to know everything he had missed during his suspension, and Aelita was eager to chat.

"So I'm in Germany, right?" Aelita grinned and waved her hands to paint the scene for Odd. "It's a huge outdoor stadium, and obviously it's freezing. The organizers had told us there would be a green room where we could hang out before the show, but we didn't know where it was. Adam doesn't speak German at all, and I only know a couple of words like hallo, vielen dank, that kind of stuff. I speak French and Danish and know some English, then Adam knows those plus Mandarin and Arabic. So you'd think that we'd run into someone who speaks one of those languages eventually. But there's all these hallways, and the doors don't have any labels. We're completely lost and don't even know where the door to the stadium is. Finally, we run into a maintenance guy and ask him for directions...but he only speaks Portuguese."

Odd leaned back in his chair and laughed loudly, drawing the attention of kids at nearby tables. "That's hilarious!" he crowed. In their seats, Ulrich and Yumi chuckled softly.

Aelita giggled. "It was ridiculous, you should have seen it…we ended up communicating through charades till finally he understood what we meant and took us to the green room. Turned out to be a great show, luckily."

"I need to go to one of your shows," Odd said with a grin. "They sound so cool!" He turned to glare jokingly at Ulrich and Yumi, who casually sipped their drinks as though not listening. "These lucky ducks already got to go and have the night of their lives."

Yumi and Ulrich choked on their drinks violently, again causing nearby students to look over in confusion. Next to them, Aelita giggled quietly into her napkin. Odd found himself looking between his friends with an adorably confused expression.

"Did I say something funny?" he asked. "I mean, I usually do. But still. I wasn't trying to this time."

Aelita raised an eyebrow and smiled at Ulrich and Yumi. "Would you like to share the news with Odd?"

Ulrich looked around the cafeteria. Seeing that no one was watching, he muttered to Aelita, "He already knows."

"He knows you and Yumi first had sex the night of the concert?" Aelita asked quietly, eyes wide with innocence.

"Aelita!" Yumi yelled, blushing fiercely. Students around them began to grumble at the group's loud outbursts.

Odd shook his head in amusement. "How about we move outside?" he suggested tactfully. The group nodded and quickly exited the cafeteria. They settled under an isolated tree near the woods, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. Ulrich leaned against the tree and Yumi sat between her boyfriend's legs to lean back against his chest. Aelita and Odd sat opposite the cuddly couple.

"So," Aelita said, awkwardly trying to restart their conversation. "What did you do while you were suspended, Odd?"

"Not much, honestly," he admitted, running a hand through his blond locks. "Teachers sent me homework, and I stayed in touch with Sam, but otherwise I was grounded. It's surprising the school even let me back in."

Ulrich looked up from playing with Yumi's hair. "You're still in touch with her?" he asked incredulously. "I'm surprised she didn't break up with you."

"Oh, she did," Odd said grimly. "She knew the video issue wasn't intentional, but she didn't think the relationship would work out with this big upset hanging over us."

"She was ready to give up that easily?" Aelita asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Just like that? Why didn't she give it a chance?"

Odd put a hand on Aelita's shoulder. "Hey, chill. We had only been officially dating for a couple months at that point. I'm disappointed, but no one's heart got broken. Besides, we're still friends."

"She left the school, you know," Yumi said flatly. She stared down at her and Ulrich's intertwined hands. "It was really bad that night...she was so upset."

"I've thought about that night a lot," Odd said, leaning back to stare up at the cloudless sky above him. "And I decided that it's pointless to feel guilty. It was an accident, simple as that. If I beat myself up every time I messed up, I'd be pretty miserable. After a while you learn to not sweat the small stuff, to focus on the big picture of life instead."

The group was silent, all staring at Odd with bewildered expressions. Aelita asked jokingly, "When did you become such a philosopher?"

Odd grinned up at her. "When you spend two months alone in your house, you do some thinking."

She smiled back at him with amusement. "And did you think about anything interesting?"

He laughed. "Well, I wondered if I was insane for missing class and cafeteria food. I missed being here, and I missed you guys a bunch."

"You could have called," Ulrich grumbled. "Or texted. We have phones, you know."

Odd rolled his eyes. "Ulrich, such a sourpuss! I was grounded, remember? No electronics. And I did try to call you once, and you too Yumi, but it went straight to voicemail. I won't ask what you two were so busy with at the time, but Aelita and I had a lovely chat."

Yumi frowned. "You didn't tell me Odd called you, Aelita."

Aelita shrugged awkwardly. "It was a...stressful time."

The bell rang, and Odd sighed blissfully. "Ah, how I missed that sound! I'll see you guys at lunch, yes? You still haven't caught me up on everything."

Ulrich shook his head. "I have stuff to do during lunch, but I'll be around tonight." He kissed Yumi goodbye and ran off.

Odd turned to Yumi. "You'll be there, right Yumi?"

She smiled apologetically. "Sorry Odd, I have to study for a test." Yumi swung her backpack over her shoulder and began walking to class.

Aelita put a hand on Odd's shoulder. "I'll be there, don't worry. We'll go over all the gossip that you missed."

Odd grinned. "At least I can rely on someone in this group! By the way, where's Jeremy?"

Aelita shouldered her bag and turned away to go to class. "Come on, we'll be late."

"Did I miss something?" Odd asked her as they entered their Danish classroom. He swung into the seat next to her, and she smiled briefly, happy to have her tablemate back.

"I'll tell you later," she promised. The lesson began, and Aelita began to write notes. Odd, however, just sat and listened with a complacent smile, overjoyed to be back with his friends.

At lunch, Aelita worked to briefly catch Odd up to speed. "Ulrich is tutoring Sissi now, Yumi finished her applications, and I'm shooting a music video this weekend. Yumi is going to sing some backup lyrics, and she and Ulrich both said they'd be in the video as well. What about you?"

Odd grinned. "Are you kidding? Being in a music video would be awesome! Maybe I can even talk to the director, give him some pointers."

"Alright, I'll tell Adam." Aelita pulled her phone out and typed a message to Adam. A moment later, she received a reply. "He said it's fine. Apparently the director needed another guy anyway."

"Awesome!" A lull fell in the conversation, and Odd decided to take the opportunity to bring up the elephant in the room. "So...you haven't said much about Jeremy."

Aelita nodded. "Yeah," she said casually. "We broke up."

"Wait, what?!" Odd cried, half standing in his chair. "You broke up and didn't tell me?"

She shrugged. "I wanted to focus on the nice stuff. Besides, he's pretty much out of my life now. He hasn't spoken to any of us in months."

"But he's still our friend," Odd insisted as he sat back down. "Shouldn't we try to keep him in the group?"

Aelita glared at her food. "He's the one who stopped talking to us. We tried reaching out and he always rejected us. I don't know about you, but I'm done with Jeremy for good." She stood and walked off to put her dishes away. Odd jogged behind her.

"If you say so, princess," he said. "But I'm going to try talking to him."

She shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

That evening, Odd walked down the hallway of the boys dormitory with light footsteps and a muddled brain. He knew that decorum would be needed to pull this off, he couldn't afford to joke around too much. Last time Odd had seen Jeremy, the boy had been angry about the intervention they had hosted. But he should be over that by now, right?

He rapped his knuckles on Jeremy's door three times and waited. Slowly, the door creaked open, the hinges squeaking as though having been dormant for weeks. Jeremy peered out to check who his visitor was, then opened the door with a surprised expression.

"Odd?" Jeremy said. "You're back?"

"Yeah, and I missed your nerdy face!" Odd cried with a grin, and threw his arms around Jeremy. Suppressing his humor was an impossible task, so he decided to embrace it instead. "So thin!" he said, pretending to be a worrisome grandmother. "So pale! Jeremy, we must get some goulash into you! Stick to your ribs!"

Jeremy surprised himself with a laugh, a loud, roaring, belly shaking laugh that left him wiping tears from his eyes. Odd laughed with him, patting Jeremy on the back. After a moment, Jeremy sobered up. Odd had always had an infectious smile. "I see your suspension has ended," Jeremy said conversationally.

Odd leaned against Jeremy's door frame casually. "Yeah, and it sucked to be away from my friends."

"You could have called, or texted," Jeremy said, already feeling his hurt and self pitying emotions creeping in.

"Now don't you start too!" Odd cried, rolling his eyes dramatically. "All day, everyone I talk to asks why I didn't call, why I didn't text. I was grounded! You don't get suspended and then spend every day living it up at home! No! My phone was taken away the minute we left school to go to the airport."

"Sorry," Jeremy muttered. Why was he always such an annoyance? Such a wet blanket?

"Eh, don't feel bad about it," Odd said with a smile. "I'm just wound up from all the excitement. You don't know what you've got till it's gone, right?"

Jeremy paused, and felt the familiar weight of depression settle on him. "I have work to do," he said, his voice already a flat monotone. "You should go."

He turned to enter his room, but Odd followed him inside, closing the door behind him. "After I just got back? No way!" Odd said, and sat down on the bed. "We have a ton of catching up to do, man."

"I'm sure you'd rather spend time with Ulrich or Yumi, or Aelita. Maybe even William," Jeremy said, his tone icy as he stared at his blank computer screen.

Odd flopped back on the bed with a groan. "Oh man...Ulrich and Yumi? It is so awkward to be around them, I can't stand it." He sat up, his eyes wide with a story to tell. "You know what happened? Let me tell you what happened."

Jeremy turned to watch his spectacle of a friend. "Uh…"

"So there I was," Odd said, using his hands to illustrate the scene. "Back at school, running into friends, feeling great. I run into Amanda, who tells me that Ulrich should be in his room. Great! I can't wait to see him! So I run upstairs as fast as I can. The door is even unlocked! It's like he was expecting me. So I burst into the room, throw my bag in, make a grand announcement, and then..."

He paused, and Jeremy found himself strangely drawn into this story. "Then?!" He found himself asking frantically.

Odd took a dramatic breath. "There before me was Yumi Ishiyama, naked as the day she was born, on top of my equally naked good buddy Ulrich."

Jeremy paused, caught between gasping in horror and laughing at the hilarity of the situation. "That...that's horrible." He chuckled, imagining how red everyone must have been.

"I got out of there as fast as I could," Odd said furtively. "I haven't been able to look either of them in the eye since the incident."

"That's actually very funny," Jeremy said with a quiet smile.

"It's funny! But what do I do? Do I bring it up to them? Do we have a big heart to heart about all this? Or do we pretend it never happened? What if it happens again?" Odd looked to Jeremy with a comically desperate look. "You have to help me, man!"

Jeremy gave his friend a smile. Odd had been factored out of the equation that was their friend group for a while now. Without meaning to, Odd had always been the peacekeeper of the group, never wanting true conflict to occur. He was more than a class clown, he was a caring friend. And today, he had managed to clown his way into making Jeremy smile again.

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 **Look at that, a chapter ending happily. Leave reviews!**


	20. Mistakes We Make

**We're back! Enjoy the chapter, it's a long one. We're about to enter into some darker, more serious topics of this story. Be warned, it is not for the faint of heart or sensitive of mind. Consider this your trigger warning. Enjoy!**

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"That's a wrap!" the director crowed victoriously, inciting a roar of approval from the cast and crew. Aelita found herself grinning at everyone around her. She had been pessimistic when Adam suggested asking students at the school to be in the video, but everyone had been ecstatic to have the opportunity. The principal had even agreed to have the video be filmed on campus.

Adam put a hand on Aelita's shoulder and gave her a proud smile. "You did it, kiddo. Your first music video. How does it feel?"

"It feels great," she gushed, unable to stop looking around. Her classmates were all dressed up futuristic outfits, reveling in the experience just as much as she was. "This whole day has been surreal," Aelita murmured to her manager, who nodded in agreement.

"You're getting close to making it big," Adam said proudly. "How about we celebrate by going out to dinner tonight?"

Aelita grinned. "Can my friends come along?"

Adam scanned the giant crowd of students warily. "Depends on how many people in this crowd you consider your friends."

As if on cue, Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd appeared next to Aelita and pulled her into a group hug. "That was amazing!" Odd exclaimed, giving her a high five.

"Your dancing was on fire!" Yumi said with a grin, shaking her hips at Aelita playfully.

Ulrich simply patted her on the back with a proud smile. "Good job, princess."

Adam looked at the group before him. "You three were all main actors, right?"

"Yeah, I asked the director to put them at the front with me," Aelita explained.

Adam nodded. "Alright, then I want to get a picture of the four of you for the website. After that, I'm taking you all downtown for dinner."

"Awesome!" Odd cried. "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse."

"You're always hungry," Ulrich rolled his eyes.

Yumi and Aelita exchanged knowing smiles as they pulled the boys apart before their playful banter could continue further. Adam arranged the group against a row of lockers that had been painted silver for the video, with Aelita standing between Odd and Yumi, with Ulrich next to Yumi. They posed with serious, imposing expressions before grinning cheesily and clowning for the camera, making Adam roll his eyes at the teenagers.

"Come on," he said tiredly. "You all need to put those costumes back before we can leave."

All four had been dressed in what the director had called a "dystopian disco club" aesthetic. The story of the video was that Aelita was entering a dark and dreary club to bring it back to life with the power of her music. The hero of the story, Aelita was dressed in a silver mini skirt and tall boots, with an oversized jacket worn open over a dark crop top and lots of jewelry. A multitude of plastic jewels had been attached to her skin to give her an ethereal appearance, with her hair styled to within an inch of its life.

Aelita's friends, or her "squad" as the director had called them, had each been allowed to pick one pop of color in their all black outfits. Everyone else in the cast had been dressed similarly, but a special focus had been given to those who stayed in the camera's eye the most.

Yumi wore a red crop top of loosely woven lace, tall black boots, ripped black shorts, and fishnet stockings. Her hair was fluffed up wildly with temporary red streaks put in. Odd had returned his hair to "Lyoko style," spiking it up and adding streaks of purple to match the tight purple pants he had been given. An oversized black shirt had been distressed to hang loosely off of his thin frame, and he had black cuffs on his wrists. Ulrich had been dressed in baggy black pants and a thin black tank top. He wore shiny gold boots and a gold chain around his neck.

In the girls' changing area, Yumi and Aelita handed their outfits over to the wardrobe crew before changing into their regular street clothes. While Yumi dressed herself, Aelita struggled to pick the jewels off her face. She hissed in pain when a particularly stubborn jewel remained glued to her skin, pulling a bit of her skin with it.

"I hate these things," Aelita grumbled.

Yumi glanced over at her friend. "Maybe put some warm water on to soften the glue," she suggested. Aelita followed her friend's suggestion and immediately sighed in relief as the remaining jewels separated from her face painlessly.

"Thanks," Aelita said with a relieved smile. "You just saved me a lot of pain."

"Anytime," Yumi replied. "After this dinner, you want to have a sleepover at my place? I need to talk to you about something."

Aelita glanced at her friend before sitting down to lace up her boots. "Sure, I'm free tonight. Is something going on?"

Yumi paused, leaning over to allow a curtain of hair to fall over her face so Aelita would not notice her paleness. "I'll tell you later," she promised.

At dinner that night, Odd badgered Adam about how he could get into the film industry while Ulrich and the girls chatted amiably. Aelita kept shooting glances at Yumi, hoping to guess what it was that she wanted to discuss. If the topic had to wait until they could speak privately, it must be something serious, Aelita reasoned. The only question was what said topic could be.

"So do you think your producers will like it?" Ulrich asked, snapping Aelita out of her thoughts.

Yumi laughed, swatting Ulrich playfully. "Of course they'll like it! Aelita worked hard, the video will turn out great."

Aelita smiled bashfully. "I'm just happy to have gotten some of your vocals on the song, Yumi."

"Oh, stop with the false modesty," Yumi teased. "I've heard you sing, you're better than you think."

The dinner ended on a high note, though Adam looked ready to strangle Odd after the his barrage of questions. After stopping at the dorm to pack an overnight bag, Aelita headed over to Yumi's house.

"Hey," Yumi gave her friend a strained smile as she opened the door for Aelita. "Come on in."

Aelita kicked off her shoes and followed Yumi up the stairs to her bedroom, still wondering what it was Yumi had looked so anxious about before. Once Yumi had closed her bedroom door and checked that Hiroki wasn't hiding in the room to spy on their conversation, the girls settled onto Yumi's bed with soft drinks and snacks.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk about?" Aelita asked, sipping her drink casually.

Yumi sighed and stared down at the bed. "Um...there really isn't any good way to lead up to this, so I might as well just say it."

Aelita held her breath as Yumi struggled to form the words, a flush rising to her pale cheeks. "Yumi, whatever it is, you can tell me."

"I think I'm pregnant." Yumi rushed the words together, her fists clenching tightly from stress. "My period was supposed to come almost a month ago and I thought it was just stress from midterms making it late, but I don't think that's it anymore. And I've been getting really nauseous and emotional at random times, and I thought maybe I was getting sick, but I'm not and...I think I'm pregnant. And I'm scared."

Aelita placed her drink on a side table and pulled Yumi into a hug, feeling her friend breathe out a shuddering sigh that hinted she might be on the verge of tears. "It'll be okay," Aelita said, knowing that it most definitely would not be if Yumi was pregnant. "You and Ulrich were using protection, right?"

Yumi pulled away so Aelita could see her shaking her head. "There were a couple times when we didn't have a condom with us...we didn't think it would make a difference. I bought a pregnancy test earlier today, but I have to wait until tomorrow morning to take it."

"Maybe it's a false alarm," Aelita said hopefully, but feeling the crushing weight of reality already setting in.

Yumi shook her head. "I don't think it is. I think I might really be pregnant."

Aelita held her friend's hand tightly. "If you are...what are you going to do?"

"I have no idea," Yumi said hollowly, fear in her eyes. "I'm just going to try to not think about it until I take the test tomorrow."

Aelita looked at Yumi with concern. She was terrified, that much was clear. And she wouldn't be able to sleep any time soon with this weighing on her mind. "Do you want to watch a movie?" Aelita suggested, pointing at Yumi's laptop. "I'm in the mood for cartoons."

Yumi nodded numbly, but soon found herself laughing at the characters' antics in the movie Aelita had picked for the night. It was a casual, light hearted story with a happy ending that had Yumi falling asleep as the credits rolled. Aelita looked over at her sleeping friend with concern. Hopefully this was just a false alarm. If not...Aelita shuddered at the possibility.

The next morning, Aelita woke to see Yumi sitting at her desk fumbling with a package wrapped in tissue paper and ribbons. Aelita yawned and stretched before asking teasingly, "Is that a present for me?"

Yumi turned to her friend with a tired smile. "Not this time, sorry. I hid the test like this so my parents wouldn't suspect anything if they were snooping through my stuff."

"I thought Hiroki was the resident snoop in your house," Aelita commented, thinking back to all the times Yumi had complained about her nosy brother.

"Yeah, he was...until he got a girlfriend and had to deal with my parents breathing down his neck all the time." Yumi smirked at the memory. "Mom caught him making out with Milly in his room one day...boy was she mad. Not only had he snuck her into the house, but she also found a box of condoms in his room. She was so upset, she threatened to call Milly's parents and make them all have a discussion about the rules of their kids' relationship."

"That's ridiculous," Aelita said as she began to comb her hair. While their conversation was light, Aelita's eyes were glued to the package in Yumi's hands.

"Yeah…" Yumi stared down at the now unwrapped box. "They didn't go through with it, luckily. But Hiroki was so scared, he begged me to change their minds. So I made up a story about how I had broken up with Ulrich and pretended to be an emotional nutcase for a week. They completely forgot about Hiroki and Milly."

"What did you and Ulrich supposedly break up over?" Aelita asked.

Yumi became more focused on the box. "Um...something stupid. A fight, I think."

Aelita sighed and moved to stand behind Yumi. "You ready?" she asked gently, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

Yumi reached back to squeeze Aelita's pale hand in her own. "Not even close," she muttered.

"I'm not going anywhere," Aelita replied. "You don't have to do this right now if you need time."

"No, I should do it now." Yumi stood, but still held Aelita's hand tightly. "I guess I'll go pee on a stick now." She chuckled lightly, but worry still clouded her eyes.

Aelita gave an uncertain smile. "Fingers crossed for a negative," she said quietly.

"Fingers crossed." Yumi took a breath before closing the bathroom door. Aelita stared at the door blankly. The situation was out of her hands. There was nothing she could to do to help, other than be there. She pulled out her phone and texted Adam a question about the music video, a question she already knew the answer to.

Yumi emerged from the bathroom holding the pregnancy test in a shaking hand. She looked to Aelita with tears in her eyes, panic choking her throat shut. Without a word, Aelita rushed to embrace her friend in a hug, catching Yumi just as she collapsed into tears. The two girls sank to their knees, clutching each other tightly as the test clattered to the ground. Aelita stared at the small plus sign with unbelieving eyes, forcing back her own panic at the sight.

"We'll figure something out," Aelita said soothingly, rubbing her friend's back. "It'll be okay, I promise."

"No, it won't," Yumi sobbed. "My parents will kill me! And Ulrich...he's going to be so mad. How could I be so stupid? I've destroyed everything!"

"Hey," Aelita pushed her friend back to arm's length. "Blame won't get us anywhere right now. You and Ulrich weren't as careful as you should have been, and now you're pregnant. Step one is telling Ulrich about this. Step two is deciding what to do. You have options, Yumi. I promise you, you will get through this."

Yumi stared at Aelita in surprise before wiping her tears away angrily, breathing in gulps of air to quell her sobs. "Thanks," she muttered. "You're right. Let's go to the school."

After showering and dressing for the day, Yumi and Aelita left the Ishiyama household, leaving a note on the table saying that they had gone out for breakfast. The girls stopped at a cafe for croissants and coffees, sitting at a secluded table at the back. Yumi had dressed in an oversized black sweater that hid her figure completely, but she kept pulling at the material around her waist distractedly.

"I texted Ulrich," Aelita said before pausing to take a sip of her drink. "He just woke up, and said he'll be ready in half an hour."

"What did you tell him?" Yumi asked anxiously. She began to tear her croissant apart, rubbing at the crust with her fingers until it crumbled into dust on her napkin.

Aelita rolled her eyes. "I didn't tell him the big news, don't worry. I just said that we wanted to hang out, and to make sure Odd is awake by the time we get to the school."

"So what's the plan?" Yumi asked, finally forcing herself to start eating her breakfast.

"I'm going to ask Odd to help me with something in my room, which will leave you and Ulrich alone. Then I'll keep him occupied until you and Ulrich are done talking."

Yumi frowned. "Odd is going to get nosy, you know he is."

Aelita held up her hands defensively. "I won't say anything without your okay, you know that."

"I'd rather keep this whole thing as quiet as possible," Yumi said quietly. "If Ulrich wants to tell him, fine. But I don't want to be making any announcements until I know what I'm going to do."

"My lips are sealed," Aelita replied quietly. The girls finished their food in silence, unwilling to force small talk to distract themselves from the issue at hand. The cold February air chilled them into alertness as they walked briskly to the school. Odd sat on the front steps of the dorm, his chin resting in his hands as he scowled at the thin layer of snow that decorated the ground below him.

"Odd?" Aelita called, waving to him.

Odd looked up at the girls and gave a tired smile as he stood to greet them. "Hey, glad you're finally here. Ulrich tore the room apart last night during one of his study sessions, he kicked me out so he could clean up before you got here."

Yumi nodded absentmindedly, staring at the door to the dorm. "That's nice...is he done yet?"

"No idea," Odd replied, glancing at Aelita with a questioning look. "You okay, Yumi?"

The dark haired girl startled and stared at Odd with wide eyes. "Of course I am. I'm fine."

Odd raised his eyebrows at Yumi's panicked look. "Okay...good to hear."

"How about we go up to my room?" Aelita suggested to Odd, gently looping her arm with his to drag him into the building and up the stairs towards her room. Yumi shot Aelita a grateful smile before disappearing down the hall towards Ulrich's room.

Odd glanced back at Yumi's retreating form with confusion. "I thought we were all hanging out together today…"

"Ulrich and Yumi could use some privacy, she needs to talk to him about something," Aelita explained quickly, struggling to keep her tone casual.

"What, is she pregnant or something?" Odd joked, chuckling at his own dumb joke. He looked up to see Aelita staring at him in shock and immediately froze. "Wait...seriously?"

Aelita took a step back to lean against the rail of the staircase, shaking her head in frustration. "You didn't hear it from me, okay? She's talking to Ulrich about it now, they're going to figure things out."

Odd stared at the ground in shock as his tone turned bitter. "If Ulrich got her pregnant, I'm going to beat the crap out of him."

"They're both at fault," Aelita replied. "What's done is done, all we can do is look ahead now."

Odd shuddered. "I wouldn't want to be in Ulrich's place right now...if that had ever happened with Sam, I would have just died of a heart attack right there."

"That's the danger of sex, I guess." Aelita said absentmindedly as she flicked a piece of dirt out from under her nails.

"Did you and Einstein ever have a scare?" Odd asked. "A pregnancy scare, I mean."

Aelita blushed. "Uh, no. We, uh, never got that far."

"Wait, what?!" Odd cried loudly. "You and Einstein never…"

"Shut up!" Aelita hissed, slamming a hand over Odd's mouth. She stepped closer to whisper in a tight voice, "Keep your voice down, would you?"

As soon as Aelita removed her hand from Odd's mouth, he whispered kindly, "I didn't mean to shout. It's no big deal if you haven't, I haven't either. I was just surprised because you and Jeremy were together for so long, and you were always hanging out in his room alone…"

"Hold on," Aelita held up a hand to stop Odd mid-sentence. "What do you mean, you haven't either?"

A blush creeped onto Odd's cheeks. "Um...I mean I haven't done it. Sex."

"What about all those times Sam would joke about you being good in bed and stuff?" Aelita asked. "She would never shut up about all the stuff you guys did when you were alone!"

Odd's blushed turned from a flushed pink to a deep crimson. "She told you about that?"

Aelita nodded awkwardly. "Yeah...but it was just girl talk, nothing serious."

"Well, that's awkward." Odd gave a small sigh of disappointment. "For your information, Sam and I never got as far as full blown intercourse. She had trust issues, I didn't want my first time to be with a girl who couldn't commit...you get the point."

"I get it," Aelita said. "Jeremy and I were technically together since seventh grade, but we were always pretty nervous about physical stuff. I mean, it didn't really matter in the long run. He was really sweet when he wasn't working…" Aelita paused, feeling the sting of repressed emotions in her chest. "Anyway, that's all over now."

Odd nodded gravely. "Yup...now we're just two virgins talking about our exes in the dorm stairway."

"Weird," Aelita laughed as they began walking up the stairs again.

"You'd think we would have known this stuff already though," Odd said. "Considering how long we've known each other, and how close our group is."

Aelita shrugged. "We were both pretty busy in the Fall. I was working on music, you were making your movie with Sam...we didn't see each other much."

"Then we'll just have to make up for lost time now," Odd said cheerfully as they finally reached Aelita's room.

Aelita deftly unlocked her door and pushed it open to step inside. "I don't have any video games but we can probably…" her voice trailed off as she froze midstep.

Odd craned his neck to see the sight that had Aelita frozen in her tracks. A worn cardboard box sat on her bed with a piece of paper lying on top of what looked to be a small mountain of items. Wordlessly, Aelita moved to the box and picked up the note. Odd took that moment to observe the items in the box - small teddy bears, paperback books, folded squares of paper with flowery handwriting peeking out from inside…

"What's all that?" Odd asked curiously.

Aelita's hands began to shake as she stared at the note with wide, terror-stricken eyes. "It's from Jeremy…"

"Oh…" Odd suddenly felt very out of his element. "So, uh...do you want me to give you some space, or…?"

"We need to get Ulrich and Yumi." Aelita stuffed the note in her pocket and strode out of her room, not even stopping to lock her door.

Odd only hesitated for a moment before hurrying after her. "I thought we were giving those two some privacy to talk about...Aelita, what's going on? Is Jeremy okay?"

Aelita reached Ulrich's room in a matter of seconds. She knocked on the door impatiently, and only had to wait a moment before Yumi cautiously opened the door to let her in. Odd glanced at her warily, surprised to not see any signs of tears or panic on her face. Inside, Ulrich was rifling through his backpack, as energetic as he had been when Odd left that morning.

"Oh, hey guys!" Ulrich spoke as though he was hooked up to an IV drip of espresso, but the dark bags under his eyes revealed his lack of sleep. "I was thinking we could go down to that new ice rink in town, see if that student deal is still going on! I got my projects for the weekend done, isn't that great? So great. What do you want to do? I was thinking we could check out that new ice rink!" He moved constantly, fidgeting and rearranging everything around him. Yumi glanced over at her boyfriend warily, a mixture of fear and concern in her eyes.

Aelita held up a hand to stop Ulrich from prattling on. "I got a note from Jeremy...I think he's in trouble."

"It was on a box on her bed," Odd explained. "With a bunch of stuff she had given him."

"What does it say?" Yumi asked softly, helping Aelita sit down gently on Odd's bed.

Aelita read aloud, "Aelita - by the time you read this it will be too late. I'm sorry I messed it all up. I hope you will forgive me. Please do not try to follow me - it's better I end it this way, just as it started."

A deafening silence fell over the room as the weight of Jeremy's words was realized. Ulrich tapped his foot impatiently, a new nervous energy overtaking him. "What does that mean?" he asked desperately.

"He sounds like...like he wants to kill himself." Yumi gulped and squeezed Aelita's hand reassuringly.

Odd leaned back against the door, his brow furrowed in thought. "Just as it started...that's gotta be a clue."

"We have to find him," Aelita said. "We have to stop him. He can't...he just can't."

"Maybe we should call his parents?" Yumi suggested. "They might know something."

"No…" Aelita stared off into the distance thoughtfully. "I got a call from Jeremy's mom a couple weeks ago. She was worried about him, said he had seemed really depressed over winter break and she didn't know what to do. I doubt they have any idea where he is."

Odd turned to Aelita. "Just as it started...Aelita, I think he's talking about your relationship. He's returning your stuff, apologizing...he's letting you go."

"Maybe he's still on campus," Yumi said. "You guys didn't start having problems until the school year started."

Aelita scoffed. "There were problems before then...but I don't think Jeremy would kill himself at school. I think it's more personal than that."

"Then where is he?" Odd asked, beginning to pace. "Your first date spot? First fight? First kiss?"

Yumi rubbed her temples, the stress setting in. "Maybe we should make a list."

"He's at the factory," Ulrich said, silencing the room. He looked up to regard the others, speaking slower than he had all day. "Just as it started...he met you through Lyoko, that's how we all became friends. Remember when we were preparing to turn off the supercomputer? He had the most hesitation about it." The incident seemed to have calmed Ulrich. The manic energy was out of his eyes, and his fidgeting was slowly ending.

Yumi nodded in agreement. "I remember that. Jeremy was always much more attached to the factory than the rest of us, even you, Aelita."

"That has to be it." Aelita stood and crunched the note in her fist. "Come on guys. We don't have much time."

* * *

 **BEFORE YOU REVIEW - this is not about to be another cliche fanfic about Ulrich and Yumi dealing with a pregnancy and baby. We are not going to get graphic with this, the rating will stay T. I'm really excited for the next chapter and hope you are too! Leave reviews!**


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